She Saved Empty Wine Bottles for Years: Now They Border Her Garden Instead of Store-Bought Edging
Empty wine bottles can pile up fast, but one gardener found a place for them outside the recycling bin. Instead of buying edging for her garden beds, she saved each bottle and built a border as her collection grew.
Blogger Rita May used the bottles along the planting beds in her enclosed dog yard, where they separate mulch and shrubs from grass and a gravel path. What started with individual bottles became a long border wrapping around the garden.
Empty Bottles Became Garden Edging
Rita placed wine bottles on their sides with the bases facing the lawn. Green, clear, and brown glass sit side by side, while different caps and labels remain visible along the row.
No matching bottles were needed. Each empty bottle joined the border after use, allowing the edging to grow without buying another material for the job.
She Added Bottles Until the Border Reached Two Rows
One row wasn’t the end of the project. Rita continued saving bottles over the years and added enough to create a second row in parts of the border.
The bottles follow the curve between the planting bed and surrounding surfaces. Their round bases form the exposed edge, while the bottle necks point back toward the bed.
The Border Runs Along More Than One Garden Bed
A wider view shows how far the collection extends. Bottles line the edge beside the gravel walkway before turning around the corner near the lawn.
Rita also used them on the opposite side of the grass area, turning an ongoing supply of empty bottles into edging across more than one section of the yard.
Wine Bottles Separate the Gravel Path From the Planting Bed
Along the side yard, the bottle border sits beside a gravel path with stepping stones. Shrubs and fallen leaves fill the bed behind it.
Unlike upright bottle edging that requires burying the necks, Rita’s bottles rest on their sides. That keeps the full bottle visible and creates a low boundary beside the path.
Years of Bottles Became Part of the Yard
From the far end of the path, the bottles read as one continuous line rather than a small collection. Rita says building the border took years, with another bottle added whenever one became available.
Glass can break, so this idea makes more sense in a private, low-traffic garden where bottles won’t be hit by mowers, tools, pets, or foot traffic.
Would you try a wine bottle garden border, or would the risk of broken glass make you choose another material?