Grow a Tea Bag Garden

Loose-leaf tea is the most eco-friendly way to go (lots of teabags are reinforced with plastic), but you may still have some teabags left to use. You may want to empty the tea leaf content out into a tray if you are concerned about the bag having plastic, or simply take the seedling out of the bag before planting.

Don’t throw away your leftover or used tea bags. Grow seedlings in them instead!

Tea bags are the perfect place to put your seedlings. Why? Because they make great plant food. And because they have been dunked in boiling water, they’re are sterile, so no bugs or diseases can get to your sapling, or young plant.

You will need:

21 used tea bags
A paper towel
A small plastic tray
Water
Seeds. Try pansies, lettuce, broccoli or marigolds.

What to do

Fold the paper towel, put it in the tray and wet it.

Soak the used tea bags and pack them together like pillows in three rows on the paper towel.

Make a hole in each bag and poke in a seed.

Put the tray in a warm place out of the sun. Take care to keep the paper towel wet. It will keep the tea bags moist. This is VERY IMPORTANT.

When the seeds germinate and the seedlings are about 2 cm tall, plant them in their bags (if plastic free teabag) in the garden.