Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Dirty Tales from the Garden - Pea Buckets

When people drive past our house, it is probably obvious that we are cat owners. Not because our cats are outside - because they are strictly indoor cats - but because kitty litter buckets are a fixture around our yard.

Prior to the construction of my planting beds, I had 12 kitty litter buckets that were drilled in the bottom for drainage that I used for my vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers, even a batch of chives - all planted in white buckets and lined up in the back yard.

This year I decided to use the buckets for the peas, and set them up on blocks along the picket fence - giving the peas something to climb on, and preventing some of the critters (bunnies) from nibbling tender leaves and pods.

The rest of these buckets get used for weeding, tool buckets for gardening tools and in Hubby's workshop, and to seal up the bags of birdseed in the garage so that Chippy does not gorge himself too much on it. I had to retire a few when the plastic handle cracked on them, but there are always plenty more in the queue, as their load of cat litter cycles through the box, and the empty ones are cleaned and put to use elsewhere.

They do sell kitty litter in cardboard boxes -but what fun is that?

4 comments:

Darling Jill Quilts said...

You're going green! Great job on recycling!!

Jen said...

Hey, at least you're using yours!! way to go

Jill said...

i've reused coffee cans for treats at christmas time, i just save up a few. last year I ended up with about 4 of them, plus various other containers, with cookies, candy, chex mix, puppy chow, etc. in them. I probably wont do all that this year with the baby coming, but they worked great (due to the seal) and i'm pretty sure i put them in the dishwasher first, so no real need to scrub the coffee smell out first. just pop them in and then save them up. or save them up, then pop them in the dishwasher before time to bake or make the first batch.

Matt said...

Hubby here...

I like to use them as project buckets for when I have the time to work on "The List". Sort out tools and materials for each task in a separate bucket, and away you go. Cuts down on clutter and stops the claw hammer from slipping out from under your arm and creating a divot in the hardwood (...knocking on it first).

As the Munchkin says, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!"