Ways To Use Old Window Blinds In Your Garden

Are you thinking about buying new window blinds, but you aren't sure what to do with your old ones besides throwing them out? Are you a crafty gardener who hates throwing away things that can still be used in some manner? Here are some ways to make the most out of your old window blinds by using them in your gardening endeavors:

Mark planted seeds: Instead of using generic garden row markers, make your own out of an old set of blinds. This is a good way to use slats that are otherwise bent or damaged. Cut each slat into 6-inch lengths. At one end, make two cuts so that it resembles the point of an arrow. Now simply paint them in your favorite colors, such as green for vegetables or pink for flowers.

Once the paint has dried, you can write on the garden row markers with permanent marker. If you use aluminum window blind slats, your new garden row markers should last for many years. If your slats came from wooden window blinds, yearly repainting will help them to last longer in your garden.

Clean up tiny spilled seeds: Extremely tiny seeds, such as poppy or broccoli seeds can be very difficult to clean up by hand. If your old window blinds were aluminum, cut several 4-inch lengths from a slat and keep them with your seeds. If you accidentally spill your seeds all over, the aluminum slats are thin and flexible enough to herd the seeds back together, allowing them to be scooped back into the seed packet. If you bend one of these slats slightly, it can also make a good funnel for putting the seeds back into the packet.

Keep your rows straight: If you're a fan of a neat and orderly looking garden, you probably hate planting seeds and finding out in a week or so that the seeds you sowed directly into the garden didn't end up in a straight line.

Place two slats from your old window blinds next to each other, with the convex side up, with just enough space in between for your tiny seeds. When you sow your seeds down the row, the curved sides of the slats will help redirect the sprinkled seeds into a neat and orderly line.

If your rows are longer than your slats, simply repeat for the entire length of the row. Doing this will help keep your plants in the tidy rows that you've always wanted.