In many African countries there’s not much water or good land for growing crops. Clever multi-storey gardens let people grow many different crops at once, and help save water too! They’re really good if you live in a city and don’t have a big garden – you can even put them on a balcony.

Fill the bottom of each tyre with loose wooden slats. Line the tyres with an old carpet or plastic bag.

Use wooden stakes to arrange the tyres in levels - like a wedding cake! Then fill each tyre with soil and stones. Use mulch on top of the soil to keep it nice and moist.

Plant your seeds on each level and water them from the top down. The loose slats allow the water to trickle through to each level.

In places like El Salvador, building with recycled drinks bottles filled with soil means they save wood and water. In Botswana, some villagers use recycled cans instead. These designs are stronger and can stand up better to storms and earthquakes!

To make a can planter you will need a round template (1.5metres across) and around 500 cans. You could organise a can collection at your school!

Fill the cans with soil or sand and plug them with old newspaper. Place them carefully around the outside of the template, making sure the bottom of the cans face outward. Glue the cans together. Make sure you use glue that’s waterproof!

Build up the layers of cans as high as you want, then take away the template. Fill the inside of the planter with soil and get planting!