recycled milk cans for organic herb garden

Rather than throwing away all the milk cans that you purchase to the weekly waste and filling up the landfills, they can be used as planters for growing a herb garden in you patio. 

These recycled cans are especially great for growing cilantro and mint plants. Also it is a solution for the problem of storage of the mint and cilantro bunch we buy during weekly shopping that tend to go bad by end of week. By having your own live plants you can pluck cilantro on an as needed basis and use it for cooking. 

The procedure is quiet simple. Take an empty milk can, wash it well and the cut it as given in the figure. The handle provides a good structure to hold the planter as well as in hanging them in your patio. 

So in my garden i recently planted three cilantro plants and one mint plant in three of these recycled milk can containers. They are hanging on one corner of the patio facing sun. After you cut the can fill the can to almost the top brim by organic potting soil with some composite mix. I have used different organic potting soils from multiple different companies. All of them work just fine. Then take the cilantro plants and mint plants you wish to plant and carefully plant them in the soil. The cans should be kept in places with adequate sun light. In our garden we hung them up on a corner in cluster of three pots. I have enough room below so that i can hang more cans in future. When you hang the cans make sure you run the cord used for hanging, through the handles. This sort of hanging helps to get a sturdy hold on the cans. We have also tied it to the pole in our patio.
Also make a few little holes in the bottom of the containers for drainage and water the plants on a daily basis and watch it growing. If you do this next time when you need some cilantro or mint, no need to drive to the market; just walk to your patio and pluck some fresh leaves for cooking right out of your herb garden. Besides getting super fresh organic herbs, its a lot of enjoyment watching them grow. We have also read that cilantro replants itself and thus comes up year after year by itself or you can make multiple plants from the one plant you have planted. This we will monitor for this year and will write another blog on the replanting of these plants. All these recycling really permits reducing harmful pile up of plastic in ocean and dumping grounds polluting our mother earth. Wish you all the best for your gardening adventure. Feel free to share your
opinion below as comments.











You can color your cans and they make your garden more lively and nobody will guess it all started with a milk can! I used spray paints here. You can add your own ideas and share them.