Styrofoam box planter or low fat chook food?

If you are like me and have run out of plant-able garden space here is another "up-cycling" suggestion.
 

 

 

I found this styro-foam box  literally by the side of the road two streets away in a council hard rubbish collection. I liked the size of it – good depth – so I decided to see if I could re-cycle it for seedling planting.







This turned out to be a fairly simple task, using a staple gun and some green shade cloth. Styrofoam boxes are light and surprisingly strong and I highly recommend them for patio planting (just keep the chooks away from them!)

 

 

 

Materials:

·       Box

·       Sharp knife

·       Scissors

·       Shade cloth – enough to cover entire outside of box and half way down interior of box

·       Staple gun and staples

Step One: Poke or cut some drainage holes. I used a sharp knife to cut them out. As you can see they don’t really need to be neat J but I do recommend ensuring they are no larger than a 5-10 cent piece and spaced at least 10 cm apart to protect the structural integrity of the box.

 

 

Step 2: Take your shade cloth and work out how much you need to cut. Cut enough to cover entire outside of box and half way down interior of box.

 

 

 Step 3. Use staple gun to attach cloth one corner at a time, folding the cloth as you would to wrap a parcel or tuck in a sheet, stapling over the folded corner.

 

Inside edge

CAUTIONARY NOTE: This one is too narrow and the box had to be filled too high to cover to the edge of the shade cloth. This meant the box became quite weighty as I had to fill it more than I intended to. I suggest you cut enough cloth so that you can fold the shade cloth further into the box.

Bottom of box.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: I would staple the cloth all across the bottom of the box also 'just in case' the weight of the soil is too much for the Styrofoam.

Step 4: Put a mix of good manure and potting mix into your box and plant your seeds/seedlings! I used Kale from a plant I had let go to seed – luckily not one of those Monsanto ones genetically engineered to be a reproductive dud. What kind of company does that?

 I buy my seeds from the Diggers Club (Vic) , Green Harvest(QLD)  or Eden Seeds (NSW) . They sell organic and heirloom seeds.

I put the box outside on the pavers, propped up on an old (salvaged!) milk crate to keep it out of the chooks way. One day some weeks later  I was in the garden and heard the oddest sound. An energetic scraping sound that was the sound of industrious activity, but somewhat furtive. A chook eating NOT the plant inside, but the actual box!

 

 

Who would have guessed that chooks like to eat Styrofoam? Whilst it cannot do them much harm according to TV's Dr Harry, I imagine it is filling so they do not eat their proper food and lacks nutrition.

This is the pint-sized culprit...looking as if butter would not melt in her beak...

Needless to say the shade cloth was necessary not only for good looks and insulation but to protect the box from peckish chickens (and sparrows as it turns out!).