For avid gardeners, collecting new plants and learning to care for them is exciting and fun. The collection of plastic nursery pots that grows in tandem is far less thrilling. These pots take up a good amount of space and can be unsightly when piled up, but it seems a shame to throw them in the garbage, especially because it would result in more plastic sitting in landfills. Instead, you should explore some creative ways to reuse plastic nursery pots in your garden. If you are interested in making your garden even lovelier by inviting more birds, then reuse nursery pots for DIY birdhouses around your yard.

Another great thing about this project is that if you have some general construction tools and scrap wood around, you can complete it without any trips to the store. For this DIY, you need a plastic nursery pot, some thin wood plank scraps, measuring tools, a saw, an orbital sander, a hole saw, a power drill, screws, bolts, nuts, and washers. The amount of wood you need and the size of the screws, nuts, and bolts will depend on the size of the nursery pot you wish to use. You will need enough wood to fit the area of the pot at its largest opening, as well as a piece to be used for mounting your completed birdhouse. You may also want some decorative materials, such as a non-toxic paint.

Now that you have all of your materials gathered, you can start the building process. Start by measuring the diameter of the pot. If you have a large piece of scrap wood, you can trace the pot and then use the measurements to ensure that the wood circle will fit. For smaller scraps, you can trace for two semicircles instead. Using a saw, cut the wood to the correct size and shape before sanding the outer edge thoroughly. The circles should be a bit smaller than the opening once you are done sanding, allowing for a small gap at the bottom of the birdhouse for drainage. Use a hole saw to bore an opening for the birds to enter on the upper half of the wood circle or the top semicircle, and then drill holes in the sides of the pot where the wood will sit so that you can secure the wood to the pot. During this process, wedge a small item at the bottom of the circle to create the drainage opening. Finally, use a nut, bolt, and washer through the hole at the base of the pot to secure the birdhouse to a piece of wood; this will make it easy to mount anywhere in your garden.

As you work on this DIY, you should learn why the size of the hole in your birdhouse matters. Different birds have different house requirements. So, you should research the minimum floor size, entry hole, entry hole height, and depth of birdhouses for the bird you want to attract before committing to a pot.

Repurposing items for a project like this birdhouse is a perfect opportunity to get artistically creative as well. There are even colors that will attract more birds to your garden. Rather than hanging up black plastic around your garden that can get too warm in the sun for birds, add some color. Gray, green, brown, and white are natural colors that will be cooler in the summer and not so bright that they repel birds from any area. If you want to use a brighter color, try placing the birdhouse near flowers or other bright colors so that it does not stand out in a way that seems dangerous to birds. When painting, make sure you avoid the entrance hole, vent, and interior, even if you are using a non-toxic paint.

If you put up your birdhouse and wait patiently but do not see any birds checking it out, then there are some simple placement tricks that might help. First, when placing your birdhouse, make sure the angle is such that the wind does not frequently blow directly into the entrance.  Also, try to leave at least 50 feet of space between birdhouses, as birds often do not want to nest too close to one another. With these tips and your own research on how to customize a birdhouse to attract a particular type of bird, your upcycled birdhouse should attract birds effectively, giving your old nursery pots new life in the garden.