Why toss a plastic produce container when you can turn it into a tiny garden instead?
With grocery prices climbing and single-use plastic piling up, one TikToker's low-effort greenhouse hack offers a refreshing solution to both.
@sciencebyashley fingers crossed something sprouts 🤞🏼🌱 and s/o to my friend @Sabrina for inspiring me to do this again!! #easygardening #lowwaste #sustainability #reducereuserecycle ♬ original sound - Ashley Diedenhofen 𓇼
In a quick video, Ashley Diedenhofen (@sciencebyashley) shows how she transformed an empty fruit container, leftover seeds, and a handful of soil into a miniature indoor herb starter. No green thumb or fancy equipment required — just a little curiosity and a sunny spot.
The scoop
Ashley builds her DIY greenhouse using nothing more than a plastic produce clamshell container, some potting soil, and seeds she saved from past harvests of basil, parsley, and dill.
She scoops soil from an unused pot, sprinkles in the seeds, and tops it off with more dirt — "chaotic gardener" style, as she likes to call it.
After realizing there might be worms in the mix, she places the makeshift greenhouse outside in a warm, sunny location to do its thing.
"Whatever sprouts, sprouts, and I'll plant it, and it'll be like little surprises," Ashley says in the video.
How it's helping
For starters, this hack saves you from buying expensive seedling trays or countertop greenhouse kits, many of which cost $15 to $40 or more.
It also gives new life to those annoying plastic containers we all end up with after a produce haul.
Repurposing what would otherwise go in the trash helps keep plastic out of landfills and reduces the risk of it entering waterways and oceans as pollution. And growing herbs at home? That's money saved every time you skip the $3 bundle of parsley at the store.
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What everyone's saying
Viewers appreciated the simplicity of the idea and the reminder that growing your own food doesn't need to be overthought.
"Thanks!" one person wrote. "I have a spinach container I was about to throw away."
Another added, "This seems so fun!"
And, of course, a herb lover chimed in: "I love dill…can't wait to see the growth."
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