Every spring I end up with a tower of empty plastic nursery pots in the corner of my shed. They multiply. You buy one plant, it comes in a pot. You repot it, the old pot stays. By June I had forty-three empty pots in various sizes. I counted.

What I Actually Reuse Them For

1. Seed Starting

The small 3-4 inch nursery pots are perfect for starting seeds indoors. Punch a few extra drainage holes in the bottom with a nail, fill with seed-starting mix, and you have free seed trays. I start tomatoes, peppers, and basil in February using the previous year’s pots.

2. Plant Gifting

When I divide perennials—hostas, daylilies, sedum—I pot the divisions in cleaned nursery pots. They become free gifts. I showed up to a housewarming last month with three potted hosta divisions and the host looked more excited than if I had brought wine.

3. Frost Protection

Large nursery pots flipped upside down make instant frost cloches for tender seedlings. Place over the plant in the evening when frost is forecast, remove in the morning. They block wind and trap a few degrees of ground heat.

The Pots I Do Not Keep

Thin black plastic pots that have gone brittle in the sun—these crack when you touch them. Recycle them. Most garden centers and big-box hardware stores have plastic pot recycling bins. Call ahead to confirm.

Terracotta pots that have developed white crusty mineral deposits: these are actually fine. The crust is just salt efflorescence from water and fertilizer. Scrub with vinegar, rinse, and reuse. They are not ruined.

The Storage System That Stopped the Tower

I nest pots by size and store them in a milk crate. Small pots inside medium pots inside large pots. The crate keeps them upright and stackable. It takes up one square foot in the shed instead of consuming an entire corner. It took me three years to figure this out.