No need to spend money on expensive planters. Just take a look around your house, in the attic, or in the shed/garage and you are sure to find some household items that, with a little TLC, can serve as perfect planters for your backyard garden oasis.
- Dresser drawers. See that old busted chest of drawers you keep meaning to drag out to the curb on bulk-trash-pick-up day? You can use the drawers as planting containers! Use the drawers alone or keep them in the chest and just pull them open slightly at staggered degrees and plant some weepers that can cascade down the drawer “steps.” Stenciling designs on the fronts of the drawers can add a little flair.
- Boots. You lost the mate to that old rubber boot ages ago, so why not give the remaining boot a little purpose…as a cute little planter for herbs or as a starter for seedlings. Try painting it!
- Cooking pots. Retired cooking pots come in all shapes and sizes and are perfect for growing herbs or annuals. Their shiny surfaces add a little pizazz to any garden.
- Tires. Lay a tire on its side, fill with soil, and plant just about anything in it. An old car or truck tire makes the perfect large container.
- Grills. When those round little charcoal grills have run their course, they make great planters. The vents at the bottom of the grill are perfect drainage holes. Even the lids can be used as planters. Paint them and then hang these dome-shaped beauties from the ceiling of your porch or from a tree branch. NHR
