Best Way to Create Unusual and Distinctive Containers for Plants

Creating unusual and distinctive containers for plants helps to personalize a garden. You might choose to convert an old wheelbarrow or paint and plant up some old car tyres – different effects are simple to create and need not take long to establish. Here are a few to consider.

A pensioned-off wheelbarrow, made of either wood or metal, can be turned into a novel container for summer-flowering plants. Check the wheelbarrow’s structure before you begin and reinforce weak joints with brackets. Drill drainage holes in the base so that the barrow will drain freely. Place the wheelbarrow in position and add a layer of coarse drainage material to the base. Fill to within 36mm of the rim with well-drained compost. Plant summer-flowering bedding plants, such as half-hardy annuals, as soon as all risk of frost has passed.

Old tyres can also be used to create unusual containers in the garden. Stack and secure three or four tyres together with wire. Select a plastic bucket with a top about the width of the hole at the centre of the tyres. Pierce holes in its base and position it inside the hole; place bricks underneath its base to make the top of the bucket level with the top of the tyres. Add coarse drainage material to the bucket, then compost. Both spring- and summer-flowering displays can be created in very little time at all. Paint the tyres white for a more aesthetic effect.

Old metal watering-cans, painted white or yellow, can be most attractive when filled with summer-flowering bedding plants. Use trailing plants, such as lobelias, to clothe the sides.

Redundant Victorian chimney pots, ideally about 90cm in height, can be easily secured upright on well-drained soil; fill their bases with coarse drainage material and top up with well-drained compost. Plant them with summer-flowering trailing plants that will drench their sides in color. The addition of a cascading fuchsia will bring further authority to the display.

A small wine cask, about 60cm (2ft) in height, can make an especially attractive plant container when a window is cut out of its side and the cask is then supported either on several bricks or a cradle formed of short rustic poles. Drill drainage holes in the side of the cask opposite the window. Plant it with cascading and trailing summer-flowering bedding plants, once again aiming to produce as colorful an effect as possible.

Recycling old growing-bags

Growing-bags used the previous year for tomatoes or lettuces can be used during the following year for summer-flowering bedding plants. In spring, mix a general fertilizer with the compost in a bag and plant half-hardy bedding plants as soon as all risk of frost has passed.

Old growing-bags make inexpensive containers for placing at the edge of a balcony or flat roof; use plenty of trailing plants, so that they become swamped with color.