• Plastic garbage is non-biodegradable, accumulates in oceans and kills birds. It travels around the globe disrupting other species' habitats. Recycling rather than trashing plastic bottles can be a fun project for the family in any form. But it's especially valuable when the aim is enhancing your garden's productivity and beauty. In a world confronting financial crisis, and requiring creative solutions for survival, the plastic bottle can be one of the handiest materials to have on hand for garden use. When you're done there, see what else you can do to save the planet from plastic battle refuse.
  
  

Bottled Fertilizer

• Using one-gallon milk bottles to make your own liquid fertilizers saves money and provides nontoxic organic food for plants. Start by saving your plastic milk bottles, including their caps.
  
  Wash a bottle thoroughly and fill it with water. Each time you cook eggs, instead of tossing away the eggshells, make plant food out of them. Simply crush them; drop them into the bottled water; and securely replace the lid. Keep adding shells to the water each time you use eggs. Keep adding water each time you water your plants, leaving the shells in the container. This mix becomes potent (with strong odor) so it's best to keep the lid on the bottle when it's not being used. Feed the mixture to your plants, however, and enjoy watching them thrive.
  
  Note that this also works well outside, substituting eggshells with approximately two inches of chicken manure or worm castings in the bottom of the bottled water.
  
  

Bottle Waterer

• Collect and thoroughly clean two-liter plastic drink bottles, slipping off the labels. Make each one a work of garden art by painting it with a favorite design.
  
  Fill each bottle with water. Tip each bottle upside down and insert into the ground near a plant during hot months. Add plant food to the water beforehand if you wish. The water slowly seeps into roots. This is also great for houseplants, especially when you're away. Alternatively, punch small holes into the bottles' bases and place them right-side-up near plants.
  
  

Bottle Pot

• Rather than throw away two-liter or gallon plastic bottles, use them to pot plants. They are great for the garden area where you have potted plants, or tucked among flowers or vegetables planted free in the ground that get watered, especially if garden plant foliage can cover the plastic. If preferred, paint flowers and leaves on them.
  
  Simply cut the top three inches off of the bottle, punch holes in the bottom for drainage, line the bottom with little rocks or other drainage material, add soil and pop your plant into it.
  
  

Bottle Lamp

• Make a cylinder by cutting off the top and cutting out the bottom of a white one-gallon jug milk bottle. Push a glass drink bottle upside down into the ground at least three inches deep. Slip the cylinder you've created over the bottle and place a candle atop the bottle. The candle wick should be a few inches lower than the top of the cylinder.
  
  When the candle is lit at night, the lamp will provide a large and soft glow. The cylinders can be painted for a stained-glass effect.