Potted plants can make your home and office feel so much warmer and connected with nature. But dirt spilling out and dead dry plants are no fun at all. There's a secret ingredient you need to put in all of your potted plants to make them thrive longer and to avoid the dirt pouring out of the bottom. And bonus, this material is earth friendly too!
There's a craft supply that you might know and love and use all the time that is actually really eco-friendly. It's one of my all-time faves too:
Kunin Eco-Fi felt!!!
You know, the felt you get in the 9″ x 12 ” sheets for like 50 cents at the craft store? Yes, those ones! Kunin has recycled over 350,000,000 water bottles to create P.E.T. felt/fabric just in 2016 ALONE!
Today I am on an Earth Day blog hop with the folks at Kunin Group, sharing all kinds of eco-friendly ideas and ways you use Kunin Eco-Fi felt in your home. Be sure to go to the end of this post for details on the hop and to see “A Day in the Life of Kunin Felt Enthusiasts”!
Kunin Eco-Fi felt also comes in bolts – you can buy this same felt by the yard for larger projects like:
- Halloween Costumes (we made a ton of those: Emoji Smile, Emoji Poop, Deviled Egg)
- Home Decor
- Holiday Decor – I've got a HUGE Christmas Tree Skirt project coming up in July!
- Upholstery
- Fashion – yeah, people sew it into CLOTHES and handbags!
- Landscaping in your yard
I gotta level with you. When I heard that Kunin Eco-Fi felt was great for landscaping, it opened a whole new world of possibilities for my yard. Kunin Eco-Fi Felt is affordable, mold and mildew resistant, allows water to drain through it, won't allow weeds to penetrate it, and it is available in all kinds of colors. Best of all, it is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles!! It's kind of like winning the Earth Day lottery.
Last year, I decided to take the challenge and create a gravel patio in my side yard, built on Kunin Eco-Fi Felt. A year later and my patio is looking amazing.
In one weekend we took this side yard from a muddy, weed-filled mess to this fun spot for making s'mores and relaxing.
How did we create a patio like this for under $200 in just one weekend?
Want more affordable BACKYARD DIY ideas like this? CLICK HERE to get a free ebook:
Keep reading to get my tips for success, lessons learned a year later, and tips on how you can use Kunin Eco-Fi Felt on a smaller scale with your potted plants. CLICK the NEXT button…
From the craft store to the backyard
When I heard you could use Kunin Eco-Fi felt as under-layment for a rock garden, I had to try it. With the drought here in California we've been converting sections of our yard to rock and drought tolerant plants. The result is that I have been fighting with weeds and cruddy under-layments for years. We've replaced the original thin fabric underlayment we installed (that actually GREW weeds!) with black plastic, which has now created drainage and stinky standing water problems. We've been replacing those sections of landscaping underlayment with Kunin Eco-Fi felt with excellent results.
Here's why Kunin Eco-Fi felt is better for under-layments than the thin fabrics or black plastic the home improvement store tries to sell you:
- Felt is a woven fabric that allows liquids to drain through but keep rocks and dirt in place
- Since Kunin Eco-Fi Felt is made from plastic bottles, it is mold and mildew resistant
- Kunin Eco-Fi Felt is much more affordable to buy than landscaping fabric or black plastic, at about $3.50 a yard from Walmart
- Kunin Eco-Fi Felt is thicker than both landscaping fabric and black plastic, which I think makes it more durable for landscaping use
You can use the same staples to hold the felt in the ground that you'd use for landscaping fabric. The only other tool you need is a pair of scissors to cut the felt. Here's how we made a gravel patio for under $200 with Kunin Group Eco-Fi Premium Plus felt:
Felt for potted plants
Potted plants need adequate drainage in order to thrive. You might have heard to line a pot with gravel or put a golf ball or rock in the drainage hole in the bottom of a pot to promote drainage but to try to keep the dirt in. But felt is a much easier solution to this potted plant problem!
Cut a piece of Kunin Eco-Fi Felt to fit the bottom of the pot and place it inside, right over the drainage hole. Then add dirt and your plant. The felt will:
- allow the pot drain
- keep all of the dirt inside
- allow more dirt in the pot because the bottom is not filled with rocks
- last a long time because it won't mold or rot
Here's what you need:
- Kunin Eco-Fi Felt
- Marker
- Scissors
- Flower Pot
- Flower
- Potting Soil
Here's how to make a felt liner for a flower pot:
For indoor plants, cut a piece of Kunin Eco-Fi felt to fit under the pot to protect table tops and counters from scratching.
We use a large plant pot to hold our kitchen utensils. We cut a piece of Kunin Eco-Fi felt to help protect our new quartz counter tops from scratching when we slide the pot away from the stove while cleaning.
Want more affordable BACKYARD DIY ideas like this? CLICK HERE
Jennifer, thank you for sharing so many great ideas on how to use felt in the yard!
Debra
Great project as always Jennifer. You totally opened up my eyes regarding different uses for bolts of felt.
Thanks for sharing such great tips! I love the idea of buying bolts of felt. This will make crafting in my kindergarten classroom so much easier!
This is EXACTLY what I needed for my spring cleaning project, our front yard! Now I really can’t wait to get started. Thanks for sharing.
How is the patio holding up with weeds! We are wanting to do this for a 15 x 15 space!