9 Ways To Repurpose Burlap Coffee Sacks In Your Garden

Chances are, you probably use burlap a lot in your garden, from protecting plants to combating weeds. Since each new year may require new burlap if you leave it outside the entire season, replacing it can get expensive over time. Using upcycled bags, however, can help you save money every year while planting. Coffee sacks and other grain sacks made from burlap can be an excellent budget-friendly way to get this versatile fabric without having to buy it from home and garden retailers. The useful sacks can be employed in all sorts of contexts, including as planters, protection fences, and window box liners. 

Coffee sacks are just as durable as what you find in stores and are often printed with interesting lettering and graphics that can be good for some of the more decorative DIY projects you may use them for. You can often get inexpensive or free sacks from secondhand online marketplaces. You can also stop at your local favorite cafe or dry goods store to see if they have any free coffee burlap sacks available. Using upcycled materials is also more eco-friendly, keeping them out of landfills. And to add to the ecological benefits, burlap is often used as a pesticide-free way to help prevent weeds and pests from infesting your plants.

Burlap coffee sacks make great emergency coverings for your plants when colder weather moves in and they risk freezing. Lie them out over beds of flowers when the mercury drops, or tie them around bushes with twine at the bottom to help taller shrubs survive a deep freeze intact. Unlike plastic bags, they still allow air flow around the plant while covered, making the fabric a great choice if the cold spell lasts longer than a day. It is also a more eco-friendly material than plastic. 

Burlap works as an excellent barrier to keep weeds from growing in your garden beds. Start by picking the weeds in your bed first, then cut open a coffee sack and spread it along your flower bed or garden, ensuring to make holes in the burlap so plants can poke through. Then add gravel or more dirt to the bed to keep the burlap from blowing away. Weeds will be unable to get sunlight to grow, and peskier invasive varieties won't be able to protrude through the woven fabric.

Make an adorable garden apron for working outside with a single large coffee bag. Cut the bottom of the bag to the desired length of your apron, then stitch the piece you cut to the body of the apron to form a full-sized pocket. You can stitch more pockets along the outside to hold seed packets and smaller items. Add some canvas ties or ribbon to tie it around your waist. You can also make a full-length version by cutting the corners off at the top and adding more ties to go around the neck.

Use some burlap from a coffee bag to line a planting box and keep the soil from falling out of a mesh or wire box. The material still allows proper drainage when you water or it rains. It can also add a rustic and natural touch when you can see the burlap bag peeking out from under the plant or flowers. You can also use it as a liner in a solid box to help achieve better drainage conditions. Or, line all of your flower pots with burlap to control moisture.

If you're transplanting trees in your yard or getting new trees acclimated to your yard, wrap the base in a coffee burlap bag for moving and transplanting it with the soil and roots still intact. Burlap is biodegradable, so you can even leave the fabric when you drop the tree or bush into the ground. It also makes it much easier to temporarily plant trees outside seasonally and move them into pots inside for colder weather.

You can use coffee burlap bags on their own as simple planters with soft sides that give a rustic look to your garden or porch. Just fill the burlap sack with soil or pebbles and roll it up to form sides. You can also make burlap sleeves to cover up unsightly plastic or damaged planters by cutting the bag into strips and wrapping it around the planter, adhering it with some waterproof adhesive. Or use twine to secure the fabric around the perimeter of the planter. 

Make a sorter for garden supplies or seed packets on your wall. Hang a large piece of burlap from a bag and stitch on some small pockets to the front to carefully organize all you'll need for a planting season. You can also create larger pockets along the bottom to hold things like hand rakes, trowels, and clippers for when working in the garden. Add stamped, stenciled, or embroidered decorative details to create some extra charm. 

Create a chic garden lantern with a coffee burlap sack. Use a glass cylinder vase or mason jar as the base of the candle and wrap a strip of burlap around it using spray adhesive. The light will permeate the burlap for a cozy and patterned glow. You can also add other accents like twine, ribbon, or faux greenery. Use some extra twine around the top of the container to hang them from the trees or a garden stake.

A great way to keep small pests, like rabbits or gophers, out is to create a shallow fence around the perimeter of your flower or veggie patch. Use some garden stakes to tie panels of coffee burlap around the area you wish to protect. You can also use it as a cover for an existing fence using zip ties to attach the edges. They also help create privacy in your yard when attached to basic chain-link fencing. Burlap can also be used to help control heat and shade where needed.