Common household items you use to grow fruit


every food container is a start tray/dome

6 Likes

My wife shared this from Facebook; Grow, Cook, Survive: Homesteading, Off-Grid Living & Old Recipes

Onion starts in perfect spacing (or other things like garlic)

6 Likes

I use Mason jars for growing fruit :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

My favorite lawn and tree fertilizer is coffee grounds. Welcome @Dan1

2 Likes

I oftentimes forget that I’ve got uncommon uses for relatively common household items. Yesterday I was preparing more tubular cages made out of the steel reinforcing mesh (remesh) in order to protect some fig trees that I planted last year and thought that I might document one for y’all.

The shank of my handheld nut driver is hollow. I have been using it as an auto-indexing wire bender for years. I scraped the rust off of the steel wire to give y’all an indication of how much wire fits inside.

I slide the wire all the way in

and then I bend it into a U shape.

Depending on whether I am joining two wire ends or just clipping the U onto a line of grids I might be bending a second U in a plane perpendicular to the first. Then I can use slip joint pliers (Channellocks) to close the loops.

7 Likes

I keep every cottage cheese and yogurt container that we empty, They work great for small seedlings.

3 Likes

Imma keep at it while I am thinking of them. Next up: chopsticks.

I’ve been using chopsticks in my gardening pursuits for years. When I am attacking something like wood sorrel, dandelion, anything that would benefit from having the soil loosened before it’s root is pulled and discarded, I like to use a chopstick to work it free. This is my favorite style:


It is a hollow stainless steel style which I purchased at an Asian grocery store. They measure approximately 9 7/8" in length. They are also my favorite style of chopsticks to use for eating, unless I am enjoying a Chinese-style hot pot, in which case I’ll reach for my hollow stainless chopsticks that are 12 7/8" long. Does anyone know of this style that are even longer than that? Please message me directly if you do.

Possibly even more useful than when weeding my garden is to use these chopsticks for planting. They have served me well when creating small holes for planting individual garlic cloves, green onion starts and fig cuttings (most especially when using rooting hormone).

3 Likes

I’ve taken to poking a hole for fig cuttings and seeds with the end of a sharpie, basically the same concept.

I just threw some gallon milk jugs filled with water on some up-cycled square straw bale twine to bend pear tree branches last weekend. It should help with fruiting spur development and improving crotch angles.

2 Likes

I am having a hard time constraining my ideas to those solely used for growing fruit, but here is another.

For anyone with a drop ceiling in their basement who has popped up a tile, you might have seen these:

A 50 count of these ~6 foot long drop ceiling hanger wires Is less than $30 at the orange big box home improvement store in my area. Spray them with a degreaser and rinse clean a few times, then spray them with distilled white vinegar a few times and they quiet down to look like this:

Use bolt cutters to shorten them (I like to get four pieces out of one stick, each about 18 inches in length), bend them into a U shape around a bicycle seatpost

and they can be used as large earth staples to hold drip/micro spray irrigation supply lines or soaker hose

remesh cages for protecting fruit trees or as tomato cages (still a fruit)

or if you have a Dymo Rhino M1011 label maker with the integrated hole punch, to anchor your identification tag securely to the ground nearby.

3 Likes

Milk jugs and baling twine in action

3 Likes

Use a small adjustable crescent wrench as a measuring caliper for matching scionwood to rootstock.

3 Likes

I mention kiddy pools for harvesting berries above. They also make great potting mix reservoirs.

3 Likes

I like to use aquarium air tubing to tie down branches. It’s cheap and doesn’t cut into the branches like wire.

4 Likes

I use old pantyhose with rocks in them for the same purpose, but I like your idea more!

2 Likes

Both accomplish the same goal and re-use/up cycle!

1 Like

I use an analog kitchen thermometer to poke holes in my drip line before inserting the emitter. IMHO it works better than the tools they sell for this job.

2 Likes