For a year, I’ve had wooden crates and a trough that I wanted to turn into planters. The only reason I haven’t done it yet (well, there are a few reasons but the main reason…) is because I didn’t know how to fill them.
I mean, I know I know… fill them with a few bags of soil! But I didn’t want a huge block of wet dirt inside of these containers. They are BIG. I’d never be able to move them when I painted the house and sheds.
Recently, I devised a plan to create big planters that didn’t weigh a ton.
This is how I did it, in case any of you have the same issue/predicament and are landscaping on a budget.
PHOTOBLOG
First, I went to the local feed store and purchased a few different sized shavings bags, plus I went to Lowe’s and got soil and dirt. Scouty is helping me offload.
Here is my dirty wood crate that I had purchased as a planter but I used it as a trough last summer – when it was very hot and dry. I wouldn’t use wood as a feeder when it can get wet – i figure it is like a wood cutting board…it would harbor germs. Anyway, here is my the wood crate I purchased from the “wood box guy” for $5. Hubby drilled holes in the bottom to let water out for use as a planter. (I have not yet painted the sheds or the house… still deciding.) You can see that I’m using many different – but similar – shades of paint on the shed.
I then went through all of my varied bags of shavings and put this one inside this crate… I put a garbage bag over it and then decided that I probably didn’t need extra plastic since the shavings were water tight.
I did the same with the water trough. I opened the spigot on the back side of it – for drainage – and put in a plump bag of sealed shavings.
Next, I added a bag of topsoil and a bag of mulch. Then I planted Gerber daisies! The next day I added irrigation. My black kitty was helping.
Here is the trough… Yes, the yellow daisies were the last bunch at the store. Kinda sad, but they will come back.
I’ve had these four, $5 wood crates in front of our bedroom windows for almost a year. I did the same thing here. I first put in a big bag of shavings, then added the dirt and topsoil and irrigation.
Gerber daisies. My fav. (As an aside, a while ago I wrote about the wood crate guy. He goes to some of the big industrial shops around here and gathers up various wood and metal containers that are usually sent to the landfill. He sells them from his house for $5 – $10. You never know what you will find there, but it is all repurposeable and very fun!
Once i paint the house, I will paint these the same color with white trim. (The roses will be yellow when they bloom. The roses in the other crate will bloom red.)
I LOVE FLOWERS! FLOWERS AND TREES.
JUNE BUCKET FUND! For my Birthday, Please help these abandoned and starved, slipper-footed young stallions! We are over 2/3 to our goal of making a huge difference in their lives! Click here to read their story and donate! Many, many sincere thanks!!
