Hopefully kiddo will come along and teach you about dumpster diving at the recycling center. She even made a hook so she could reach bottles without going over head first. :)

Oh, that's good news. I'd love to see that hook!

Meanwhile, I'm not sure I'll be able to look my neighbors in the eye for a while....

~CA

You won't be able to look them in the eye when you're bent over planting all the seedlings that will germinate in their containers. Keep your head down and keep on planting.

Lol...ive been caught digging milk jugs out of the trash at work. I have them save them for me but someone forgot! Lol Ive asked everyone i know to save them. And i hoard them in my car until my dh isnt home because he just dosnt get it!!

Welcome to the loony bin.
:-D

I sympathize with your dilemma.
It is embarrassing, but it hasn't stopped me from dumpster diving.
I even collected horse poo off the downtown street ---in full sight of passersby. lol
The police laughed at me. Then they told me where the police horse barn was.

I think this takes the cake ---or horse manure. :-P Hahaha.

LOL, sakura...I hit our county recycling center at least once or twice per week to get my "container fix"...it's right at the end of my street which makes it even more convenient :-) At first, I was afraid someone would leap out from behind the huge metal containers to yell, "Hey, what are you doing??? Those are for recycling!" Now? Ha! I dive headfirst into the cardboard bins and take whatever I please. In fact, I had the town worker who runs the operation come up to me and ask, "What the heck are you planting with all those plastic bottles???" I must have looked startled, because he said, "I saw them all in your driveway, filled with dirt." Bwahahaha!

Not only does he let me grab all the milk jugs/juice bottles/cake trays I want...I also rummage through the magazine bins and usually find plenty of current issues! Last week was awesome--Birds and Blooms, BH&G, Country Living, even Horticulture!

As for "borrowing" from your neighbors, well, I wouldn't worry if someone gives you an odd look. You're doing a good (positive) thing with the containers, so folks should be happy about that!

If you have a city/county recycling facility, I think it's worth a look-see...you never know!

Susan in Kansas

I have a couple of freecyclers saving milk and water jugs for me. They've been doing this for a couple of years now and I return the favor with some of my wintersown plants in the spring. That's a win win situation!

I just started my WS this evening and only had 7 containers, but I plan to do what I did last year, and post a request in the church bulletin. Last year, three or four families brought bags full of 2L bottles to church with them every week until I was finished with my wintersowing.

You could also try your local coffee shops. They go through a ton of milk everyday.

Or try posting a request on Freecycle, Craig's List, or some other place like that.

I'm not ready to dumpster dive yet ... not until I've exhausted all my other options, LOL.

My mom is collecting containers at church too. They're bringing me a couple trash bags full of 2-liter containers this weekend when they come for a visit. She thought I was crazy last year, sowing seeds in plastic bottles at the end of the driveway. By June, she had changed her mind.

No, you are not compleltely loony!! I remember the doing the same thing when I realized I had more than 80 varieties to plant and I do not drink soda or milk. I got quite a few from my first try with the re-cycle bins, but as you said, I felt as if I was stealing as I had to do it under cover of night, and try to smuggle them back to my house. Then I posted on Freecycle and someone collected them for me. I haven't had to go back to the garbage since then. You may want to give it a try.

Not loony -

Reuse before recycling!

You're doing the world a favor;))

Someone once suggested the best response ever: if anyone ever looks at you funny for dumpster diving or asks about taking recyclables, just wave and say, "School project!"
:)
Helps to have a kid with you! Who's gonna question that? lol.

Wait a minute you're asking people HERE if you're loony?
Everyone that has gone dumpster diving raise your hand(both of mine are up!)Some people have even put their mouth on a jug of sour milk to blow the container back up(I'm not admitting to anything!) Have you ever screeched your car to a halt to dump most of your neighbors trash into the trunk of your car because there were jugs on the top(you can sort though that stuff later in the garage) Embarrassing your children by going to their school during lunch and collecting all the little milk boxes because they fit into a milk crate perfectly?(they claimed they were scarred for life, but the pansies came out beautifully!)
Umm, I guess that proves my point-now I need to email Kiddo and ask about this hook, I think I might need one!
-B

Nope you are not looney at all. I always have my eyes peeled for containers to Winter Sow in. One of my constant phrases is "Don't throw that out!!!! I NEED it" whether it be a milk jug or the plastic zippered bags comforters and sheets come in. They make great little green houses for the things I sow in plastic keg cups.

Hi sakura! :-D

Token mentioned my first-time WS dumpster adventure last February. Here is a link to that particular blog post. If you want more WS container info on that blog page, click on "WS containers" label for more plastic adventures.

I did do a little more dumpster diving last Feb/Mar, but this year I'm prepared, saving all my juice & milk jugs. Although I HAVE changed my recycle habits. I used to zip over to the center during off days when the place wasn't busy. Now I go on busy days and have been known to accost innocent recylers on their way to the big bins. "Say, what do you have in that bag? Milk jugs? Really? Here. Let me help you with that...." And into the hatchback they go.

Actually, I was thinking just parking the hatchback next to the one of the plastic recycle bins, slapping a "Plastic Jugs" sign on the back end of the Golf and see what happens...

And you think YOU'RE loony? LOL

Good hunting to ya! Enjoy your 'school project'. :-D

Kris

Bakemom was the one last spotted yelling school project while pilfering her neighbor's trash. :)

This is my first year wintersowing. I had 24 milk jugs and Sunny D jugs collected. I thought that would be close to enough but I'm not even done with perennials and I'll need to do multiples of some of those. So over the holidays we've gone to lots of family events so I've been hoarding the 2-liter soda bottles, even drinking just one more glass to empty the bottle! I've collected about 15 containers this way. My bf says that I'm "obsessed." I'm also "obsessed" with my dogs according to him. I just tell him that its better than drugs or something else illegal. I've got about 30 additional containers so as soon as I figure out how to unthaw my dirt, I'll be ws'ing again.

Its a 2 cu ft bag of Miracle Grow and its frozen solid in my garage. I could in theory take it into my basement but I don't know how because its HEAVY. I really don't want to wintersow in the basement because I don't want to haul all those jugs back up the stairs and outside. That's looking like my only option though.

When I started WSing 2 years ago, I made regular rounds to the recycle bins in the neighborhood, even checked bins as I was driving by. Collected a nice assortment and sowed 158 containers that year.

I only do a little collecting now, because I re-use containers from year to year. Not interested in doing any more collecting, cleaning, cutting, and puncturing holes than necessary. I rinse out, store in the basement, and then re-use any containers that are in good shape, particularly 1 & 2 ltr bottles, salad boxes, and even the styrofoam cup o noodles cups.

Thanks, everyone, for confirming that not only have I gone loony, but that I should be concerned about how far my craziness will progress!

Thanks for all the stories of your own jug-hunting adventures. I needed that! I want so badly to hit up a recycling center, but I'm not sure I'm up to that quite yet. I embarrass a bit too easily.

As for this:
Someone once suggested the best response ever: if anyone ever looks at you funny for dumpster diving or asks about taking recyclables, just wave and say, "School project!"
Is needing to legitimize a claim of "school project!" a sufficient reason to procreate? I'm thinking it might be.

~CA

Sakura, you crack me up! You fit into this forum perfectly like you have been here for years!

Best way to solve the container problem is to get kids. Four has worked for us. We go through a gallon of milk in a day and a half, and juice in 3-4 days. Works like a charm--never in need of containers. May need some grocery money, though...