An important part of any child’s Biology education is to develop an understanding of the requirements for plant growth. The most effective way to reinforce this learning, and to make the subject fun, is to get out into the garden and grow things! Using recycled household items reduces the cost of gardening projects, and also teaches children about the value of recycling and reducing waste.
Recycled Plant Pots
The cardboard tubes from the centre of rolls of kitchen towel can be cut into sections and filled with compost to make simple biodegradable plant pots. As long as these are placed into a shallow tray, the bottom of the ‘pot’ doesn’t even need to be covered. Rolled up tubes of newspaper, held in place with a couple of paper clips can be used in the same way. The advantage of using biodegradable materials is that once the seedlings are large enough, the whole ‘pot’ can be planted out, without the need to transfer the seedling and risk damaging the root system.
It is important that children understand that the roots of the plant need to find enough space for it to grow. These paper based pots will simply rot away in the damp soil, allowing the roots to spread, and the plant to find nutrients in the soil.
Recycled Propagators
The shallow trays from ready meals make a great alternative to seed trays. It is also very simple to make your own propagator by using a clear plastic container, such as the ones which fresh fruits are sold in, and inverting it over your seed tray.
For larger seedlings, once in individual pots, a plastic bottle with the bottom removed can form a handy individual propagator, or mini-cloche. Leaving the lid off the bottle allows some air circulation, while still increasing humidity levels and temperature.
Simple experiments to compare growth rates of seedlings can offer a valuable insight into the optimum conditions for plant growth. Plants could be grown -
- without a propagator,
- with a bottle propagator with the lid sealed, and
- with a propagator with the lid off for ventilation
Creative Recycling – Plant Pot Labels, and Garden Art
When sowing seeds outside in a school allotment or vegetable garden, it is important to know which seeds are planted where. This calls for labels at the head or each planted row or area. Purpose designed labels can be bought and placed in the ground at the appropriate position, but it is much more environmentally friendly, and much more fun, to make your own from recycled household waste.
On a simple level, cut sections of plastic yoghurt pots can be labelled and placed into the soil, but why write the word “Carrot” on a label when you could use recycled goods to make a model carrot to illustrate the fact that the crop being grown in a certain area is carrots? Let children use their creativity and artistic talents, along with a range of collected items which would otherwise end up in a recycling bin, to make graphic representations of the crops which they have sown.
Free Seeds
It is even possible to collect seeds for gardening projects for free, and to teach children about the life cycles of plants at the same time. Seeds can be collected and dried form many fruits and vegetables which have been used in home cooking. Tomatoes, pumpkins and avocados work well, and offer a good illustration of the range of sizes of seeds from different species of plants.
It is also possible to collect seeds from native trees, such as the Horse Chestnut in the UK, although the success rates from these can be low, leading to disappointment among the children.
For a larger scale recycled gardening project for children see “Class Project - Build a Recycled Bottle Greenhouse”.
Sources
http://www.self-sufficient.co.uk/Make-Newspaper-Plant-Pots.htm Accessed October 2011.
Vicki Dennison - Vicki has a Ph.D, is a qualified Science teacher, and has a passion for inspiring young people.
