Martha Stewart's Money-Saving Hack Is A Game-Changer For Filling Planters

Huge planters overflowing with flowers are gorgeous, but if you've ever brought home a large empty pot and then tried to fill it, you realize just how much soil — and money — you can sink into filling one up. Don't worry, though, because Martha Stewart has a hack for that. In fact, Stewart has a hack for just about everything, like reusing glass jars and canisters to keep your home tidy. This one, however, also happens to be a great way to reuse materials that might otherwise end up in the trash, and do not add a lot of weight. Whenever you get a delivery and find yourself wondering what to do with the leftover bubble wrap or packing peanuts, set them aside for when it's time to fill your pots.

Once you've got plants and soil ready to go in your pots, pull out all that old packaging material. Fill your planters about halfway with whatever packing material you have handy and then lay a sheet of landscaping fabric over the top to keep your soil from slipping beyond the roots' reach. Then, fill the pots with soil and plant as usual, using a simple formula for designing a container garden.

Before you head out to the garden and enthusiastically start stuffing bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts into the bottom of your big pots just like Martha Stewart, there are some things to know. First, consider drainage. Bubble wrap is made out of plastic, and will hold water if you aren't careful to make sure there is a route for it to travel through. In other words, it could impact drainage so be careful to ensure you haven't created an impervious barrier. 

On the other hand, packing peanuts will allow for easier drainage but many are now designed to dissolve. So, you may want to grab one and run it under water before you decide to fill your pots with that recycled packaging. If you don't ensure your peanuts are not water-soluble, you may find your plants sinking after watering. Plant roots have also been known to grow into styrofoam that becomes waterlogged, ultimately causing the roots to rot. So a barrier is definitely necessary. If you don't have any of these materials, there are also other common household items you can repurpose into pot fillers.