Repurpose Old Wine Bottles With This Uniquely Gorgeous Garden Edging Hack

If you enjoy wine or host parties, there's a good chance you end up with a lot of empty bottles that go to waste. Instead of recycling or tossing out the beautiful glass, you can repurpose it in your garden. There are many ways to get creative with wine bottles, from making candles to fences. There's even a neat DIY hack that transforms old wine bottles into bird feeders. If you buy alcohol by the crate, there are even hacks to transform old wine boxes into outdoor planters. 

However, if you're looking for something to help you use up a lot of old bottles, and works with any shape and size, then this garden edging hack is the way to go. It involves creating a border made from leftover wine bottles. How you use the border is up to you. Set up a walkway with a bottle border on either side or use it on the edge of a garden bed. 

Edging your garden with this wine bottle takes a little effort and time, but is rather easy to do, and makes for stunning results if you take the time to do it right. It also has a practical effect. With wine bottles blocking your garden, your hose is less likely to trail over delicate plants.

To start with, you need to determine where you want the path to be. It may help to lay down a string or a hose before starting so you keep track of the shape you want. If you have harder soil, it may help to water it down a bit to make it easier to dig into. You don't have to dig far, only about six inches down or so. You essentially just want it deep enough to fit the bottle down and have it stand up when surrounded with dirt. 

Set your bottles where you think they'll look best. Take time to consider a pattern if you have different shapes and sizes of bottles, such as in the image above, and how far apart they should be spaced. Then, one-by-one, set them in the dirt and cover a portion of the bottle until it's flush with the rest of the ground and is able to stand up on its own.

Certainly, you could leave the border as it is and it will still look great. However, you can also add some flair to the bottles so it feels more unique or personal. To make the bottles shine, weed around them and put down mulch. This accentuates the border and makes it stand out. Or, if you want it to blend in more to the garden while still adding a little sparkle, grow ground cover around the plants. Something like clover, creeping phlox, or creeping thyme offers bright and bold colors that can offer another level to your border. 

You could also change up the colors of the bottles. Instead of using just blue, green, or clear, combine all three of them, or find some more unique bottles. Yellow, amber, and red are also wine bottle colors you can find if you look around. There are also a variety of different shapes if you're feeling creative or want something a little more unique.

Finally, you can add a hint of magic to your border. Solar fairy lights wrapped around or stuffed into the bottles, or every few bottles, can give you a path that lights up at night and helps add a little whimsy. There are so many ways to use outdoor lighting, including lighting up your hanging planters.