by Texas Homesteader ~
Empty plastic coffee cans can be used in many ways! I’m sharing a way I repurpose empty coffee cans for keeping things tidy in the garden & making weeding more effective with less work.
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Accumulating Empty Coffee Cans
Y’all know RancherMan & I are avid coffee drinkers.
As a result we have lots of empty coffee cans to repurpose. We’re always looking for ways to put these handy canisters to good use.
I’ve been on a quest to find how many ways I can repurpose empty coffee cans.
Repurposing Coffee Cans In The Garden
There are several ways I like to repurpose coffee cans in the garden:
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Conserve water & Deep Soak Plants in the garden
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Helping with Garden Harvest
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Making a cute Plant Pot for sharing garden plants
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To dig further into repurpose ideas, check out this complete Coffee Can Repurpose List for more ideas.
Plus a long list of fun coffee can repurpose ideas is included at the end of this post too – including making empty coffee cans into decorative kitchen canisters, bread boxes, etc.
But today I’m sharing another simple way those empty canisters get repurposed in our Homestead garden, and the surprising benefit too.
Benefit of Weeding The Garden Early & Often
As most gardeners do, I go to the garden every day to look for anything needing to be harvested. I also check soil moisture and scout for weeds at the same time.
Now I don’t like weeding any more than the next guy. But you know how it is – if you tackle that weed today when it’s small it’s no big deal.
If you wait until tomorrow to pull that weed it will have grown to twice the size and have fangs and green eyes, ready to destroy you!
No?? Just me?
More Effective Garden Weeding
I know weeds are easier to eradicate if you tackle them early. So I spend a couple of minutes every morning weeding the garden rows & beds.
Because I weed so often, the weeds are always tiny with a small root system. The small to moderate sized weeds are easier to pull up root & all using my favorite *Forked Garden Trowel.
All other tiny weeds are just pulled by hand. Daily maintenance means my small weed problems don’t turn into large weed problems.
A Repurposed Coffee Can For Garden Weeding
I use a repurposed coffee canister to help simplify my daily weeding by keeping a spare plastic coffee canister in my garden.
When I go down the rows pulling those small weeds I bring the canister along with me. It’s easy to drop the grassy weeds into the canister. And when I’m done I snap the lid back on and set it aside to continue its duty tomorrow.
Using Garden Weeds For Compost
When the can’s full I toss the contents into my *tumbling composter. Since I’m pulling those weeds young there are no seeds growing on my weeds.
So my daily garden weeding actually benefits my compost by adding to my healthy ‘greens‘ compost balance.
And every gardener knows how valuable compost is for your garden. Thankfully it’s super easy to make compost yourself. For FREE!
So there ya go, another easy way to repurpose coffee canisters. Making weeding the garden easier? Helping to make weed-free compost? Repurposing something to a new use?
** Yes please! **
Repurposing that empty coffee can has much work-saving benefit in my garden, as daily weeding has saved me much back-aching weed-pulling effort down the road. And you know I love that!
Other Ways To Repurpose Coffee Canisters
The plastic canister our coffee’s sold in has not only the snap-on lid, but also a handle molded right into the side of the can. So it comes in handy for many uses when it’s empty.
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More secure storage than bags for animal feed
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Store bulk amounts of Homemade Laundry Powder
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Use in garage to hold nuts & bolts
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Store leftovers in the refrigerator (write contents on black lid with chalk)
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Carry Homemade Cookies to luncheon
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Use as handled popcorn bowls on movie night
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Store small toys such as building blocks or crayons
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Use in the garden (ideas below)
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How’s your favorite way to repurpose those great canisters?
~TxH~
This post categorized in 
Tagged in 
Coffee Canister Repurpose Ideas:
Kitchen Repurposes
- Making A Cute Country Bread Box
- How To Make A Flour Canister
- Storing Bulk Items In The Pantry
- Replaceable Food Storage Dishes
Garden Repurposes
- Using Repurposed Canisters For Garden Weeds
- Repurposed Coffee Canister To Cute Inexpensive Planter
- Coffee Canisters Into EcoBricks For The Garden
- Empty Coffee Can Repurposed For Grape Harvest
- Repurposing A Coffee Can For Deep-Soak Watering
Other Repurposes
More Repurposed Coffee Canister Ideas
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I use them for coin banks. I give them to my grandson for Christmas every year.
My coffee comes in a cardboard can with a metal bottom. I use them to put food scraps in and when full I dump the contents in my compost pile or dig the scraps into my garden. I use plastic ice cream containers for small plants like radish, onions, & lettuce. Drill holes in the bottoms, fill with potting mix, and plant.
Weeds are so tenacious! This is a good way to keep them out of the garden. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve printed them out & used them for Christmas gifts in years past, Jan. They were very cute and ‘wrapping’ has never been easier.
Hi, Tammy, Forgers.com has several seasonal labels that are FREE to print. Jan
My coffee doesn’t come in that type of canister, but I snag them from recycling bins whenever I see them! They are great for buying bulk food in reused containers when it’s something you want in a large amount, like flour or oats.
Like you, I use these handy canisters for bulk supplies. My flour is purchased in 25-lb sacks and I don’t want to haul that big bag out every time I want to whip up a cobbler or something. So I store a nice supply of flour in these empty repurposed coffee canisters and tuck it into my kitchen. I refill it from the large bag in my chest freezer when it runs low.
Great ideas here! We like the Wallyworld Great Value brand, black of course. At any rate, my wife stores cat food on the back deck in one (they are not plastic), and last week a varmit chewed right through one. LOL! I love the idea of the weed disposal. Let ’em dry up in the container and put on the compost. Don’t want to upset anybody (I’m not politically correct, but one container can easily hide a concealed .38 or small auto in the upstairs closet. Or wherever. Oh yeah, just had another grandson Monday morning! Life is good.
You are so right about weeds taking root again if you just toss them down on the ground. I keep an old bucket around for weeding. But, we have a ton of those plastic coffee canisters and can’t bear to discard them, even in the recycling. So, we have them full of screws, nuts, bolts, string, etc. etc. etc. They come in handy. You can write labels on them with a Sharpie.
I use to store crushed egg shells in of which I use the shells when I do my veggie, flower, etc. planting. I have used as seed starter containers; use as scrap bowl – when full it goes to the compost tumbler; they make for nice popcorn ‘bowls’; paint and/ or decorate and use as holiday treat containers; Fill pre-measured amounts of coffee into a filter, and then stack them up individually inside an empty coffee container. When you’re ready to make another pot of coffee just grab a prefilled filter and insert into your coffee pot. I gave a couple to my daughter for her to store her pet treats in. Husband uses some in his workshop to store nuts, screws, nails, etc. in. I painted a couple in granddaughters favorite colors for her to store her markers, crayons, etc. in. In my craft room, using small coffee canister I use to store my ball of twine in – cutting small hole for the twine to go through so that Ii can just pull the string and cut off as much as needed. Also use to store extra paint in leftover from a 5 gal. bucket. Have found that the canisters are great for holding a roll of toilet paper when going camping, etc. The metal coffee canisters I have used to bake bread in. I have made hamburger patties and froze in the canister. Make into a Bird Feeder.
Face it; many uses for coffee canisters and saves from going to the landfill. Recycle; Reuse.
Those are great options for reuse Colleen. I know RancherMan will also use them when another product’s container goes awry. Last week I had a container of granulated plant food that cracked. The moisture in the contents was making for a mess in the shop. So RancherMan cut the label off the plant food contianer and affixed it to my coffee canister and transferred the contents, snapping the lid back on. Done & DONE! Plus that built-in handle makes it easier to carry. 🙂