list of places to get free/cheap containers

[Penny]

Another site that i've seen is called Smartcanuks.ca....never gotten anything from there though

[Jim]

Kinda hobo but I was looking at a stack of steel baby formula can I have laying around and I was thinking of using them to start seeds in. To be honest I think I'm going to plant some of those really dwarf maters in some of them.

[grungy]

smart thinking, Jim. See Sam is helping you already. <smiles>

[Penny]

Those should work, nothing wrong with trying right.

Good luck.

[Alan]

for 45-55 gallon plastic barrels look for providers of car wash soap which will usually sell these containers for next to nothing. I am usually able to pick them up for $4 a piece if I buy 6 at a time.

For potting containers contact local landscapers and nurseries who usually just send the containers to recycling plants or even worse, landfill them, the old landscape place that I worked for landfilled them, so I started collecting them, I have a barn full now and not sure what I will do with them.

[bluelacedredhead]

Last year, I saved plastic Folgers coffee jars for starting vine crops, and those (Campbell's I think) styro microwaveable soup/stew containers. Also Neilson's plastic ice cream containers. The hard plastic 'rectangular' types...Oh, and Kraft Mayo containers..same idea as the ice cream; rectangular but with rounded edges.
You would have to poke drainage holes in any of the above, but aside from the micro soup containers, the other items would be common food items in almost any household.

And yup, I collect lots of plastic containers from fruit trees, shrubs and rosebushes at the curbside. Unfortunately, most of them didn't make the move. I'll have to play garbage picker in the new neighbourhood too. What better way to meet the new neighbours?

[greeneyes]

I save all 2 liter soda bottles and use them to start seeds for peppers...Cut in half,drainage holes made in bottom,soil,seeds,water,then fit the top back on to the bottom..Like a mini greenhouse and it works great...Remove the cap too for air...They are also great for wintersowing as well as the gallon milk jugs..I also save yogurt cups,coolwhip,plastic muffin pans almost anything that can hold soil and a few seeds..I keep all my large Folgers red coffee cans for growing plants that are on the small side...I do the curbsite bit myself and have picked up all kinds of containers.

[Jim]

I buy apple juice by the gallon jug and you just gave me a good idea how to use them. Hell we go through 3 a week....we like juice.

[sphinxeyes]

For those with kitties or friends with kitties, I've started to save the big plastic cat litter buckets. I've heard that with holes drilled in the sides that they make great tomato containers.

Smaller seedlings could also be started in Chinese food takeaway containers...not he paper boxes, but the plastic bowls for wonton and soup.

[Penny]

More great ideas, i guess when you really start to look, just about anything can be used.

[ottawagardener]

I love plastics / metals recycling day in my neighbourhood. Oh wait, I love paper recycling day to because that's when I get the cardboard to start lasagna beds. I love other people's trash.

[Penny]

Nothing wrong with that, its amazing some of the things that others throw out.

[Penny]

Hey, what about using Tim Hortons cups, since most of us probably got there a few times a week, wash and rinse them out.

[ottawagardener]

Don't see why you couldn't use them. Better than throwing them out. I like yoghurt containers to start tomatoes and peppers.

[Penny]

Me too, i use those too, and the little plastic cups that apple sauce comes in.