5 creative, truly useful garden planters

You'll have no excuse not to plant a garden this spring. These planters are the answer to many vegetable gardening woes.

Thu, Mar 10 2011 at 9:30 AM

Related Topics:

DIY, Organic Gardening

Photo: mondomuse/Flickr

I love every single one of these ideas for repurposing items into garden planters. Whether you have little space, little sun, or little energy to build a raised garden bed, there's a solution here for you.

Old tires. You’ve got to check out these tire planters. They aren’t simply old tires filled with dirt. They’ve been cut, turned inside out, painted, and they look like a flower. They can be placed directly on the ground or put on top of an old tire rim base. Seems like quite a bit of work, but they really are clever and charming. (Source: Wuvie)
Rain gutters. When Suzanne Forsling, an Iowa native, moved to Juneau, Alaska, she had trouble planting a garden in the colder soil. After much thought, she came up with idea to put a few rows of rain gutters on the siding of the sunniest side of the house. In those gutters she was able to grow Simpson lettuce, variety lettuce, French breakfast radish, Swiss chard, beets and turnips. (Source: Juneau Empire)
Cinderblocks. Inexpensive 12” cinderblocks and liquid nails are used to build a wall with some cinderblocks that protrude and are made into planters. The original is filled with non-edible plants that will eventually trail down and look very pretty, but the same idea could be used for edible plants that don’t have deep roots. (Source: Apartment Therapy)
Plastic wading pool. The quickest and easiest raised bed garden ever, plastic wading pools with drainage holes drilled in them make great planters. Before you run out and pay money for a new one, keep an eye out at the curb on trash day as people spring clean their sheds and garages. Or ask all your Facebook friends if anyone has an old plastic wading pool that’s taking up space. (Source: Blissfully Domestic)
Old charcoal grill. Instead of putting a charcoal grill that has begun to rust out at the curb, you can use it as a planter. It’s perfect for early spring planting because the lid can be used to guard against frost, and it can be wheeled around to make the most of the sunny parts of the yard. (Source: A Little Greener Every Day)

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