Many of our milk jugs go to the recycling center. However, with five kids, we go through about a gallon of milk a day – and until I decide whether or not I am going to buy a cow (I’m just not sure I’m ready for the commitment!) we have a lot of jugs piling up in the bin. Milk jugs are sturdy and are useful for many things, so if you have a few extra lying around, try these ideas:
1. We use milk jugs as cloches in the garden. Just cut off the bottom and place over small plants that need extra warmth, particularly overnight. As the day heats up, you don’t have to remove them – you just pop off the cap. Milk jugs also serve as excellent protection in the wee stages of a plant when the weather calls for a downpour – or even hail!
2. Make maple syrup! I’m serious. We ran out of buckets one year and I remembered a picture I saw in an old maple sugaring book of a guy who hung milk jugs from his spouts. It works! Just a little hole cut above the handle will secure the jug over the tap – and voila – a sap bucket. Leave the lid in and it’s also easy to pour when it’s full. And just a sidenote – because they are so light and only hold, well, a gallon, little kids don’t have as much trouble emptying them and helping with the sap gathering chores.
3. Wall of Water. I often see ads for portable irrigation systems in catalogs and magazines. I realized that I had the perfect vessel for such a system right in my recycling bin. Just fill your jugs with water and place them strategically throughout your garden. Poke some very small holes in the bottom – not much bigger than pin size. Your plants will be watered without as much evaporation. This method saves water – and also ensures that the right plants are getting the water they need – particularly helpful in dry years.
4. The scoop. Grain scoop, poop scoop, dog food scoop, flour bin scoop. Just cut the bottom off at an angle and you have a scoop for any need! Save yourself the $5-$10 at the store.
5. The last minute dust pan! If I had thought of this years ago, I would never have bought a dustpan and brush. Just cut the bottom off – like the scooper – and you’re in business.
6. Fill a jug with water and place in your toilet tank. Instant low-flow toilet!
7. Fill a jug with water and freeze it (leave a little headroom) – then use in the cooler on your next trip. Because it’s a solid ice block – it will last a very long time. And when it melts, you can either refreeze it – or drink it!
8. Fill jugs with sand or kitty litter and place in the back of your car during the winter. This will add weight to the back of your vehicle – and – if you do get stuck, you can use the sand or litter for traction!
9. Start seed in jugs with the tops cut off.
10. Seed tags. I have cut up plastic jugs into “popsicle” stick shapes for a waterproof row tag and then I write the name of whatever I planted on it. If you use a ballpoint pen – the name of the plant is “engraved” into the plastic and it won’t wash away.
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