Recycling in the Garden: Reusing Everyday Items

“In a world where climate change and sustainability is increasingly important, gardeners can make a major difference,” suggests journalist Youngman (The Weird and Wonderful Story of Gin) in this pedestrian take on eco-friendly gardening practices. To save money, time, and energy, she encourages gardeners to adopt such sustainable practices as composting food scraps to make fertilizer and rigging gutters to collect rainwater in barrels. Other projects are smaller in scope, such as “upcycling” paper egg cartons to start seedlings, using solar-powered path lights, and repurposing empty wine bottles as path markers. Youngman recommends looking to the past for inspiration and tells how the Nunnington Hall estate in North Yorkshire practices the centuries old technique of placing manure-stained fleece at the bases of fruit trees to fertilize them, though it’s unclear how readers without sheep should make use of this information. Many of the other ideas are commonsensical (composting) or recycled from other sources (Jennifer Davies’s The Wartime Kitchen Garden pops up frequently), and some of the photos—including an amateurish snapshot of a running faucet, captioned “Water—a scarce commodity”—come across as unnecessary. Gardeners hunting for tips to boost sustainability would be better served elsewhere. (Feb.)