Unleash your creativity and love for nature by incorporating upcycling into your wildlife gardening strategies. Environmentally friendly and ingeniously practical, these crafty ideas are not only an excellent way to reduce waste, but also a unique method of attracting the beautiful diversity of nature to your garden. Empower your green thumb with these seven creative ideas for upcycling in wildlife gardening.
Upcycling Old Furniture
Derived from the concept of She-Sheds Style and Upcycling Projects, reviving old furniture not only saves them from potentially landing in a landfill, but it can also make for a unique and beautiful addition to your garden. Transform an old wooden desk drawer into a rustic bird feeder by attaching a roof and a perch. With some sanding and waterproof varnishing, an old stool can become a nesting box for birds.
Creative Planters
Reimagining everyday items as planters adds to the charm of the garden. Old boots can be turned into planters for herbs and small flowers. Tin cans, emptied and painted, can house succulents and creeping vines. Wine crates can be used to accommodate larger plants or a combination of flowers and herbs. Based on the idea from savvygardening, each unique planter adds its own personality to the garden.
DIY Bug Hotels
An essential part of a wildlife garden is the small creatures that aid in pollination and pest control. By piling up wood scraps, drilled with small holes, and bundles of bamboo secured together, you can create the perfect refuge for these helpful insects. Encasing this structure in a wooden frame provides stability and visual appeal.
Water Features from Scrap
A gently gurgling water feature attracts birds and beneficial insects. Transform broken ceramics or an old sink into a quaint bird bath or a small pond. Use waterproof glue to piece together shards of pottery into a shallow basin, or convert an old porcelain sink, adding stones for depth and places for birds to perch.
Artistic Feeding Stations
Feeding stations can be functional and decorative. Old rusted ladles can be repurposed as bird feeders, while an outdated chandelier can be transformed into an elaborate feeding platform, perfect for enticing a variety of birds or playful squirrels to your garden.
Slope Stabilizers Using Scraps
Reinforce a steep slope in your garden using upcycled materials. A cascade of stacked broken terracotta pots or tiles adds texture and functions as erosion control. Additionally, these nooks and crannies provide the perfect hideaway for small creatures like lizards and hedgehogs.
Plastic Bottle Greenhouses
A final and ingenious idea inspired by @ggthegardengirl on TikTok is transforming plastic bottles into miniature greenhouses. Cut off the bottom of a clear plastic bottle, place it over your germinating seeds, and you’ve created a perfect environment for sprouting seeds. Not only does this keep moisture in and pests out, but it also puts plastic waste to good and practical use.