Many people are buying things online rather than in stores at the moment – for obvious reasons. So it may be that you are finding that you have more cardboard to recycle. Before you put those boxes in the recycling bin, it could be a good idea to think how they might come in handy in your garden.
One thing to think about is that you could use cardboard boxes to create new growing areas or raised beds for next year. Laying large pieces of untreated brown cardboard on an area of lawn could allow you suppress grass growth and begin building a layered ‘lasagna’ style bed or a Hugelkultur mound.
You could also use cardboard boxes as planters. They might not look all that attractive, nor will they last forever. But keeping a few good-sized boxes aside could give you something to, for example, grow some potatoes in next year. After you harvest your crop, you can simply rip up the cardboard and place it into your composting system.
Smaller cardboard boxes can be very useful to a gardener too. For example, they can be used as biodegradable plant pots. Biodegradable plant pots are great for plants that are started indoors but do not like root disturbance. You can simple harden off your seedlings in their small cardboard boxes and then plant them out box and all in their final growing positions.
Pieces of cardboard can also be useful for making cardboard collars to place around plants to keep them safe from pests. For example, a cardboard collar can help to protect plants from cutworms present in the soil.
Finally, of course, cardboard can be shredded and makes for a useful addition to a composting system. Dealing with as much of it as you can at home reduces trucks on the road and strain on municipal recycling schemes.
The above are just a few examples that could help you make use of the cardboard that comes into your home, and move closer to a zero waste lifestyle.
EWSP Consultancy 