Awesome container gardening ideas

Simply gorgeous!  I love it :)  The photo is from the website The Garden Glove, their link is at the end of the post.

I have thought of using a tub as a container garden, but never had one to put into action.  What I did have was a toilet that I thought would make an awesome container display, but my husband threw it away before I had a chance to use it for a beautiful display.

Recycling old objects in the garden is one of my favorite things.  I've used old coffee pots, tea kettles, painted tin cans, old shoes . . . before it got thrown away it was put to the test in the garden.  We have even used old displays from when we had a retail store.  The spinner rack is my favorite . . . from paperback books to the garden!

These are old photos from my garden, but my staghorn ferns are still thriving in the spinner rack.  I'll have to take some new photos.  

It has been through tropical storms, hurricanes and time.  My estimate is that it has been used in the garden since 1998.  One of my favorite things!

For more inspiration on unusual items to use in the garden, click here for an awesome article and website, The Garden Glove.

From this blog, Subtropical Gardening, click here for a post on upcycled and unusual container plants

101 Container Gardening Ideas from Southern Living . . . click here

30 Container Gardening Ideas from MagazineHours.com . . . click here

I will be adding more links as I find them!

read more

Upcycled and unusual container plants

Trash cans as containers for plants are something I love to use in my garden (except mine are used and much older looking with lots of dents and dings).  I paint mine to make them prettier!  Love the idea of rollers on the bottom . . . great idea since the bigger ones really get heavy and difficult to move.

Before you go out to the store and spent way too much on new containers, check out DIY's website for some great ideas for items you may already have at home . . .

Click here to go to DIY's gallery of upcycled and unusual container plants.

read more

Make a Backyard Pond from a Tire!

This has got to be the most ingenious trash-to-treasure project for the garden I have seen yet!

The photos were found on Pinterest, unfortunately, they were linked to just a photo since the original blog it was posted to has been removed.  So . . . no instructions or tutorial . . . just awesome inspiration.

When we get around to making this pond, we will take lots of photos and make a tutorial for this project.

read more

Paper Pulp Seed Starters

It is that time of year when we can't wait to plant our seeds and get a head start on Spring.  

I've been looking for inexpensive ways to start seeds and especially love it is something that can be recycled.

Would you believe these seed starters were made out of junk mail that you would normally toss in the garbage?  How about using newspaper instead of throwing them away? Ingenious idea!

Chris at 365 Days of DIY came up with this awesome idea.  Click here for the tutorial with photos.

read more

Recycling in the garden

Don't throw away those toilet paper or paper towel rolls!

This has got to be one of the best ideas I've seen for recycling items for starting seedlings.  My favorite is egg cartons!

How to make it:

1. Using scissors, cut six to eight small slits in the end of your toilet paper roll (if using a paper towel roll, cut the roll into three pieces before beginning this step).

2. Fold the strips down so they overlap.

3. Fill carefully with wet soil, and set in a baking sheet.

4. Plant one seed per roll. After germination, just plant the whole thing in your garden! If you don’t mind transplanting your seedlings, you can use all kinds of recyclables for germination: Takeout containers, plastic cups, soda bottles and shoe boxes – just to name a few.

Photo and Info Source

read more

Tin Can Man . . . trash to treasure project

Trash to treasure yard art is one of my favorite crafts.

This little guy is so cute and seems like a relatively easy project to put together.

Here are the materials used in the project:

• 1 medium vegetable, fruit or coffee can (head)
• 1 large can (torso)
• 2 medium cans (upper arms)
• 6 small vegetable or fruit cans (forearms & legs)
• 5 lids cut from cans (ears, nose, hands)
• 4 tomato paste cans (ankles, feet)
• 5 round bottle caps (eyes, buttons)
• 11 screws with bolt backings
• heavy gauge wire
• Epoxy glue or clear-drying caulk

Tools needed include drill, hole punch, hammer or mallet, metal cutters, “church key” can opener, duct tape, screwdriver.

Click here for instructions

Please note!

The original instructions are no longer available, however, I will leave the information up in case the page becomes available again.

Some other pages that include instructions for a tin can man:

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf43267298.tip.html

http://worththewhisk.com/2009/09/24/how-to-make-a-tin-can-man/

http://www.hometalk.com/4126480/craft-tin-man-upcycle

http://serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com/2012/11/make-tin-can-man-in-your-garden.html

read more