The glassy and glossy texture of wine bottles looks quite alluring. Many of them have attractive colors and a boozy tint. But did you know what happens when we just chuck them out after use – they take about 4000 years to decompose! So it is better to recycle and reuse them and get the load off our landfills. And you can use them in your garden easily. You might want to remove the labels on these bottles before you start off. To do this, just soak them in a soapy hot water solution for 20-30 minutes. Remove and scrape off the label with ease.
1. Lighting fixtures
You can make so many lighting fixtures from old wine bottles like a torch, chandelier, hurricane, candle holder, etc. To make a lamp, drill a hole into the bottom and then insert a bulb through a wire and hook the bottle anywhere desired. While drilling the hole, just wet the needle with cold water so that the glass does not crack. Cut off the top half and place candle right in the middle to create a hurricane. Try shoving in a taper candle though the spout of the bottle and then light it up. Cut off the circular base at the bottom and fit in a string of tiny light bulbs. You now have a luminous bottle.
2. Bottle trees
You can adorn trees with used wine bottles in many ways. They add a bumpy touch to your trees. Simplest way is to just pop the mouth of the bottle inside a thin branch. If the tree has many bare branches then a whole bunch of wine bottles dangling look delightful. Lash many wine bottles together with strong silken threads or satin ribbons creating a garland. Tie the ends of the garland on two branches to put together a swinging display. You can even bury bottles at the base of a thick tree.
3. Fence creation
An attractive boundary line for your garden can be made with old wine bottles. The different hues of green, red, and brown jutting out at the edges will captivate passer bys. It is also easy to put up such a fence and you would not have to splurge on materials like wood or metal. If you have plots of garden beds spaced out in your lawn then you can demarcate their edges using old wine bottles. You would not have to worry about them getting soggy in the rain or rusting like other materials.
4. Decanter for plants
Affix and incline a bottle just above your plant. Fill it up with water which will slowly drip down and water your plants. This one is a huge time saver.
5. Wind chime
Clinking and clashing of the wind chimes whenever a gust of breeze passes by is an excellent touch to your garden. Chimes of different designs can be made with wine bottles. Just suspend the whole bottle upside down and affix a bell through the mouth of the bottle. Otherwise cut of the bottom half, this again can be done in two ways. The bottom of the bottle can be broken off to create jagged sharp edges or cut off neatly to carve out a neat circular shape. Then hang a bell or metal spangles through it.
6. Pathways
Outline a path with wine bottles buried along the edges. Just bury them halfway inside the soil. You can also bury them right inside the soil so that only the bottom circular portion of the glass comes up above the surface. This way you create a glass carpet of circular discs in your garden. Make sure that the bottles are stuffed tight into the earth and maintain a distance of an inch between them. Before burying the bottles just cork them to avoid the soil from filling up inside. Now people will not trample the grass when walking across your garden.
7. Décor
You can create interesting garden décor with these bottles. If you have the resources then just get your wine bottles re-blown. The bottles when reheated and reshaped acquire interesting and quirky shapes. You can get wine bottles flattened at the Flat Bottle Company. These look good in rugged or rustic gardens, especially ones filled with rocks, pebbles, and sand. Make flower pots out of your wine bottles and grow small ferns, creepers and other leafy plants in them. You can even have dainty colorful flowers shooting through. Allow moss to cultivate in your translucent bottles. Arrange wine bottles in shapes of a house, tree, etc.
