‘Tis the season to sit around the table and share food with loved ones. The one thing about Christmas I can’t be a Grinch about! I love seeing everyone sat around the table, with our personalised napkins (that my mum lovingly sewed for us), and a few candles lighting our smiling faces. We all have our own table traditions; from our “special” cutlery to how we dress it to look pretty.

I love the idea of a big center piece on a dinner table to mark a special occasion, but have always been reluctant to buy anything (and am never creative enough to design something myself) .

But recently my friend Dee at ItDoesTheJob.com told me about their ‘waste free’ living table centerpiece, following one of their successful sustainable suppers. I loved the idea so much I asked if they could share some simple steps to how someone lazy or not very creative could make such a masterpiece. 

Make your own ‘living’ table centerpiece

Transform your festive dinner table into a living ‘work of art’.  Create a ‘living’ table centrepiece.  Here’s how:

1. Create a waterproof covering along the centre length of your table this could comprise one of the following:

• bin liner – which can be re-cycled and used for waste
• any containers without holes such as takeaway containers, Tupperware, recycled plastic milk bottles cut lengthways to create channels
• bits of MDF or old floorboards laid in a strip

2. Take a pail of earth (from garden) enough to make a long deep line along the centre of your table (depth of soil depends on what you are planting)

3. Lay the earth evenly along the waterproof strip and compact the soil with your hands

4. Plant a mixture of rooted herbs along the row – scented varieties such as rosemary, thyme and basil create a lovely aroma – compact again to secure roots.  Alternatively you could plant flowers or place candles in the soil (safe because moist soil is a dampener)

5. If you want to be more adventurous you can plant salad leaves – and your guests can snip their own salad garnish

6. Gently water each day and your display will last the 12 days of Christmas

7. When Christmas is over you can plant the herbs or flowers in pots or the garden

 

About ItDoesTheJob .com

Itdoesthejob.com is an online store for products that save energy, money and time.  They’re brimming with clever and adaptable solutions for business and home improvements; offering products to suit every lifestyle.

Some people call them ‘eco-products’, ‘green products’ or ‘sustainability products’ but they believe it’s shopping smart Their products simply maximise the return on your energy and money.

One of their aims is to cut through the energy reduction ‘jargon’ and offer products that are un-complicated, easy to understand and above all ‘do the job’ efficiently.