10 Common Laundry Items You Should Be Reusing In The Garden

Let's face it: gardening gadgets can get expensive quickly, especially if you're new to the hobby. So, rather than dealing with a credit card bill that keeps you awake at night, look around your home for useful stuff that would work in your garden, too. Luckily, there are dozens of things that you can repurpose easily to help make gardening more fun, from turning old kitchen sponges into more comfortable garden tool handles to creating bee feeders using Mason jars.

However, if you're struggling to find things to upcycle, there is one room in particular that can help you in your gardening journey, and that's the laundry room. This room is filled to the brim with lots of goodies that can be easily hacked into useful tools and supplies for container planting or in-ground gardens. That's why we searched TikTok to pick out 10 of our absolute favorites, just to show you how easy it is to get that repurposing motivation piqued and ready to go. Plus, we've included a few tips to ensure your DIY hack is a success for keeping your plants happy and healthy.

To make harvesting strawberries easier, consider growing them in a laundry basket. As this TikTok shows, all you need to do is line it with landscape fabric to prevent loose soil from spilling out, cut holes in spots where you'll add a few starter strawberry plants, and let them do their thing. You might also want to drill holes in the bottom to allow water to seep out after watering them. Since the strawberries will grow out of the individual holes, plucking them when they're ripe will be super easy. This method also ensures that there will be plenty of air circulation between the leaves, minimizing the risk of disease.

Laundry baskets are typically pretty cheap and easy to find at dollar stores, but they're pretty plentiful at thrift stores, too. If you want to score one for free, drive around neighborhoods with college apartments, especially during the end of a semester or right before a break. You're bound to find a few sitting out for the trash pickup that'll make perfect planters for strawberries, potatoes, or you name it. Look for a basket that's around four to five gallons if this is your first time growing crops; this will be big enough that your strawberries can handle a missed watering or two but not so big that you're swimming in strawberries (which may be a good problem to have, who can say). Fill it with a well-draining potting mix; strawberries can't handle water-logged soil, so look for a blend that is full of organic additives that hold just enough moisture to be helpful but not so much that root rot can be a problem. 

Want a nearly hands-off approach to container gardening? Give self-watering planters a try! It might not be aesthetically pleasing, but it's a great tool to employ if you're trying to grow various cuttings into larger houseplants and you're worried you won't remember to water them in a timely manner. All you'll need is a red Solo cup, an empty laundry detergent bottle, nutrient-enriched water, a plant, and something to hold the plant in place. Simply put the plant in the cup, and stick the cup into the mouth of the detergent bottle filled with water. The roots will reach for the water whenever they need a drink. For a truly hydroponic DIY, skip the red solo cup and instead put your plant into a pool noodle. Pop the pool noodle into the bottle opening, allowing the roots to drink when they want to.

If you want to give this DIY a go, make sure your laundry bottle is completely free of all soap residue so that nothing icky gets drawn into the roots. Fill the bottle with distilled or rain water that has a nutrient solution added to it. You want it to be just touching but not completely immersed, so the roots don't become waterlogged. Keep an eye on the water levels and top off as needed. 

If you want something a little nicer to look at, there's another way you can repurpose that laundry bottle: by turning it into an elegant swan planter! This TikTok video shows how a few markers and an Exacto blade can give your laundry bottle a whole new life as a super cute plant pot. Like this video shows, make sure you add drainage holes to the bottom to ensure your plants don't get too much water. While some plants can live in jars and other drainless containers, it's a complicated system that requires a little bit of helicopter parenting. In the end, it's just easier to add the holes and put your planter on a tray to catch the excess water. 

Also, make sure to thoroughly clean out the bottle before adding any soil or plants to it; you don't want any soap residue seeping into the soil and ending up in the roots. Detergents can cause a bunch of issues for plants, like crown or root rot, yellow leaves, and slow growth, so don't skip making sure your laundry detergent bottle is laundry detergent-free.

If you've ever used LECA for plants, you know two things. One: It's awesome because it gives a good balance of oxygen and water delivery to roots. Two: it's gross and full of dust right out of the bag and needs to be thoroughly rinsed before use. But how do you rinse hundreds of tiny clay balls? Whip out the old mesh laundry bags like this TikTok shows because they make perfect holders for LECA! 

The mesh holes are tiny enough to release the dirt and loose clay left over from manufacturing the clay balls while the bag holds them in place, keeping them out of your lawn or sink drain. We recommend plopping your laundry bag of LECA on the ground and thoroughly dousing it with a garden hose for a few minutes, then flipping it over and repeating it on the other side. Find a place to hang the bag so that the water can drain away and the LECA can fully dry. Then, you can store it in the bag and pour out clean LECA whenever you need. 

Is there anything more heartbreaking than losing a beloved sweater to the dryer monster? Maybe moths, but we digress. You don't need to chuck that sweater in the trash just yet, especially if you're using clear pots, but we'll cover that in a second. This TikTok DIY is brilliant because it gives a second life to old sweaters, turning them into plant pot cozies. As the TikToker mentions, stretchy sweaters will work best, but give whatever knit you're willing to sacrifice a try. Simply pull the sleeve over the plant pot and cut it once it's covering the bottom of the container. Now you've got a super cute, comfy potted plant.

While this definitely adds to the cuteness factor of container planting, as this TikToker mentions, there's an added benefit for gardeners who use semi-hydroponic setups. Many semi-hydro planters are clear, so plant parents can easily monitor water levels, but the transparency comes with a cost. Since the water in plant pots is mostly stagnant, it's a breeding ground for algae, especially when sunlight hits it. Creating these sweater cozies lets you easily slip them up or down to check water levels while still blocking the sun to reduce algae bloom in your pot. 

Want to add more space to your container garden? Consider doing what this TikToker did: repurposing an old clothing rack and turning it into a holder for her hanging plants. Plus, you can use the bottom of the rack for heavier plants or crops, giving you double the space for plants. Strawberries, begonias, and other trailing plants are perfect for setups like this since they naturally cascade out of pots and will appreciate the new growing space. It's also really easy to DIY stunning hanging planters without spending a ton so you can create different hangers that vary in height and design, giving your container garden a little eye-candy appeal. 

One thing you must consider before hoisting your plants onto your old clothing rack is its threshold for holding weight. This TikTok uses a clothing rack made from black pipe, so it should be able to hold the weight of a few plants easily. However, wire racks or thinner metals might not fare as well, so double-check the manufacturer's recommendations for the maximum weight allowances. Keep in mind your pole will need to hold not only the plant but its pot, soil, and water, all of which can add to the mass quickly.  If things start to look a little flimsy or your pole begins to bow, consider shimmying a support beam in the center of your rack to support the additional weight. 

If you don't have a good, heavy-duty clothing rack that can keep your hanging plants up, don't worry. This TikTok video has a great solution: repurposing those wall-mounted fold-out clothing hangers and turning them into hanging plant holders. Not only will you get the support of the wall to keep your plants up, but these hangers fold back when not in use, so you can easily hide them for those times your begonia became too much of a primadonna and decided to die (not that we're speaking from personal experience of course. RIP begonia number 3,560.). Plus, since they typically have notches, you can hang multiple pots on the same hanger, creating a cool, cascading "living wall" effect.

Using hangers like these will require either drilling into a stud or adding wall anchors to support the weight of your plants. But before you break out the drill, check out the sun your potential spot gets and make sure it's the right amount your hanging plants will need. If the space is too dark, your plants won't get enough light to thrive and will have problems growing. But if it's too much sun, the leaves could scorch, giving you crunchy, dead plants before you know it. And for one final tip, consider the height of the highest and lowest plants, both for watering and curious hands. Find a spot that will be low enough for you to reach the highest hanging plant easily so you can water it (or put a stool nearby) but not so low that curious kids could grab trailing stems and pull the plant down. 

Want to dry some flowers and herbs without spending a ton of money? Do like this TikTok video shows and dry them with one laundry room essential: your mesh garment bags. You can either put the flower buds directly on top of them or drop herbs into the bag and hang them up to dry with clothespins or a hanger with clips. The mesh lets air circulate around the plant, preserving the flavor for later use or the memory the flower brings. Whatever the reason, this DIY makes it easy to do.

This method of preservation is known as "air drying" and requires the right conditions to be successful. Most importantly, the area where you plan to let your herbs or flowers dry cannot be humid; humidity brings fungus, and fungal growth will ruin your preservation attempts. Either opt for someplace dry, like near your furnace, or get a dehumidifier. Next, decide if you'll hang your plants or lie them down. Hanging works great and can be done without the bags if you want; just bundle your sprigs with rubber bands and hang them upside down. However, if your plant has lots of seeds, you may want to put it in the bag to keep things cleaner. If you have wire racks, you can lie your plants or flowers down. However, you can't do the same with solid shelving since you need good air circulation around the plants. Within a week or two, depending on the plant and its original moisture content, your preservation project should be successful. 

If you've ever had deer destroy a garden, you're probably giving this hack the side-eye; we get it. Natural methods to get deer out of your yard have varying degrees of success, and some deer just won't take "no" for an answer, which is when drastic measures come into play. However, this TikTok suggests tying dryer sheets around the perimeter of your garden as the strong aroma wafting from the sheets should be able to make curious deer say, "Actually, no thanks."

But how successful are dryer sheets as deer repellents? Academic research is light on its efficacy, but from what we've seen, there doesn't seem to be any harm in giving it a shot. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources and Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management mention dryer sheets as okay options for use around edible plants that may be successful; just keep in mind the jury is still out regarding a concrete verdict on whether it will work or not. Some home gardeners and state officials say it might work; others are dubious. Regardless, we think that any attempt at keeping deer out of your yard is better than no attempt at all. Give it a shot, and let us know how it goes.