Reusing Keurig Plastic Coffee Pods for Gardening

Do you have awful coworkers that drink Keurig-made coffee everyday? Do you feel terrible, watching the plastic pods get used once, then thrown in the garbage? Well, me too, my dude.

My roommate recently brought home a collection of these used pods, hoping to find something to do with them. He ended up leaving them on the counter until inspiration struck, which it recently did for me. I've gotten super into gardening, lately.

Jumping feet-first into everything and hoping for the best. I started researching hydroponics and, of course, I got excited about it. I learned that one of necessary tools for hydroponics is something called a net pot. A net pot is like any other gardening pot, except filled with slots and holes. So I guess that means it's actually not like every other pot...

Moving on, I looked up net pot prices and was disappointed with how expensive they are. I'm a huge cheapskate, so I avoid spending money as much as I can. That's when I remembered the Keurig pods that my roommate brought home. Inspiration!

Let's get to it. Grab your Keurig pods, an exacto knife, a cutting board, and whatever small jars you have lying around.

Grab a Keurig pod and your exacto knife and start poking holes in the bottom. Go a little crazy.

Don't worry if it looks crappy, we're not trying to win any awards. Besides, whatever you do is gonna look better than what I, a proud slob, have managed.

Next, cut slits out of the sides of the Keurig pod.

Cut the slits as close together as you can while not compromising the structure of the pod.

Finally, gently cut out all the slits of narrow plastic until you end up with a result like below.

Unfortunately, there's still plastic left over, but it's at least a little better than throwing away a whole plastic pod.

Next, take your new little Keurig net pot and nestle it into a jar! 

I am still an utter noob when it comes to hydroponics, so I can't really make any further recommendations from here with your new net pot. What I did, which I later learned was wrong, was fill my net pot with potting soil, put a basil clipping in, then filled the jar with water.

You can also use your net pot to hold up veggie clippings to propagate them. If you don't want to cut up a Keurig pod, you can always try planting seeds in them or propagate more herb clippings in them.

Good luck! And have fun!