Monday, June 11, 2012

Washing Greenery ~In the dishwasher!

I have been putting off washing the decorative greenery I have sitting around my house.  Just the thought of bending over the bathtub and washing it (I know sounds strenuous, doesn't it) was enough to keep putting it off. 

I am a big fan of putting what ever I can fit into my dishwasher to be washed.  It's not uncommon for me to wash a trash can in there as long as it will fit.  Chicken feeders and water containers, go in as well.  I wash those separate from our dishes of course. 

As I was dreading the thought of washing all of the greenery, I started to wonder if I could put it in the dishwasher.  I knew I couldn't use the harsh dish washing detergent, but what about a few drops of liquid soap?  What did I have to loose?  If it got ruined, I would just toss it out.  Since I'm not a big fan of washing it, why keep it if it isn't easy to clean?

 I decided to give it a try.  I turned off the heat settings for both the drying cycle and heating the water.  I wasn't going to be drying them, but didn't want to take the chance I would forget about them in there.  I have a relic of a machine, so I can just turn the dial and advance through the washing cycles as I like.

I added three drops of soap to the first cycle.  After it completed, I waited until the water filled and the machine started to run again, and oped to check the soap status.  There were very little suds since the soap had been drained with the first cycle.  I added two more drops of soap and let it go through the second wash cycle.  After the first rinse, I stopped the machine and added some cold water since I noticed some of the "berries" on one of the arrangements getting a little warm.  I did rinse them a second time, and now they look great.  It was so easy.  I will be cleaning my greenery more often in the future!

Dusty greenery ready to wash

Drip drying

Look how nice and shiny it looks!  It is still wet in this photo. 

Laid out to dry