Most people have toilet rolls lying around at home but, little you may know, there’s a reason you may want to put the cardboard part in your garden. If you like to spend time in your garden, it’s advice well worth listening to, as it could make a big difference to your outside space.
Gardening expert Ish, known as gardening.with.ish on TikTok, recently explained why, and the reason they’re so beneficial may surprise you. According to him, the humble toilet roll has more uses than you may realise.
Ish said you shouldn’t throw the cardboard sections away, as they can aid you in many ways. Keeping them doesn’t only prevent waste, but also helps your property to look pretty great outside too, as they have some helpful uses in the garden.
He said: “The first thing you can do with your cardboard tubes is make little seedling pots, and these work absolutely fantastic, because they are a thin cardboard, they will naturally decompose over the next couple of months. So, start your seedlings off in the first three or four weeks and, once they’ve started to grow, it’s worth taking them out and potting them up.
“You can simply put these in a bigger pot, or in the ground, and these will slowly decompose in the ground, causing very little root disturbance. If you’re trying to start to make your own compost, these work absolutely fantastic too, and you can simply just chuck the tubes in.”
He added: “Pile that down with layers of organic material, and the worms absolutely love this stuff. It will break away and give you some pretty good compost.”
As well as this, he said you can also cut up the tubes and lay them flat on the ground. He said this will provide you with a really good weed membrane which, over the next few months, will slowly break down.
This works to prevent your plants from any weeds growing up, according to the gardening fanatic. He said you can also put them underneath your plant beds to help protect anything from growing through.
If you complete the task around now, he said it will also create a great thermal layer to help protect plants against things like frost. When it comes to cardboard tubes, he admitted they have all sorts of handy uses in the garden.
They have more pros than you realise, and can really help plants to thrive. This is why it’s best not to throw them away, especially at the moment.
If you didn’t know, you can use loo roll cardboard in the garden as a compostable seed starter, a biodegradable pot, weed barrier or a protective collar for seedlings. The cardboard breaks down naturally in the soil over time, which means it’s a great way to both reuse them and give your garden a boost.
Since Ish shared the video, a few people admitted they use the trick. Some were keen to share their own success stories with others.
If you suffer with weeds, lay the cardboard flat on the ground to suppress them. Over a few months, it will break down, and you can plant through it.
This is particularly useful for establishing new garden beds. You can also cut the tubes up and place them around seedlings to protect them from pests such as slugs and snails.
The vertical sides can also help your seedlings grow straight. There are so many ways they can be used to boost your garden.
Comments are closed.