Whether you want to plant a few potted plants around your deck or undertake a more expansive garden overhaul, consider repurposing unwanted items into useful garden planters.

We all know that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure and that is certainly true for the creative gardener. Instead of investing money in fancy store-bought planters, reuse items that would normally end up in the landfill in your garden to make a green (and inexpensive) statement.

13 Ideas for Repurposed Garden Planters

1. Tire Hanging Garden – Have a tire swing in your yard that is no longer getting any attention? Repurpose it into a hanging annual planter for a quick way to add some color to your backyard.

2. Library Card Catalog Drawers – If you are lucky enough to come across old library card catalog drawers, turn them into retro chic tabletop garden planters.

3. Wheelbarrow – If your wheelbarrow develops holes or begins to rust, you can turn it into a planter. Simply lay down some landscaping fabric to plug up any holes and fill with soil, compost, and plants.

4. Vintage Cooler – Oftentimes it’s possible to come across retro drink coolers at flea markets. They work pretty well as garden planters for larger plants.

5. Old Rain Gutters – Instead of tossing old rain gutters, repurpose them into functional garden planters. Not only will it keep something with some practical use left in it out of the landfill, but it’s certainly a creative planter idea.

6. Teacups – Delicate teacups are the perfect garden planter for small plants like succulents or pretty annuals. Decorate your deck with pretty vintage teacup planters to make a wonderfully green statement sure to make even the Queen proud.

7. Toolbox – Whether the old wooden style or a newer metal box, a toolbox is a great planter size for planting an herb garden or some pretty perennials.

8. Kitchen Sink – Yes, everything, including the kitchen sink, can be repurposed into a functional garden planter. The only thing holding you back is your imagination.

9. Mason Jar Planters – Mason jars are pretty easily found at thrift shops and can be used as planters for a small herb garden. You can even use them to create a hanging herb garden as well.

10. Washtubs and Buckets – If you come across old galvanized washtubs or buckets, snap them up. They make for great garden planters.

11. Birdbath – While you you don’t want to steal the birdbath from the birds, you can certainly turn an extra one into a decorative succulent garden planter.

12. Baskets – Baskets of all kinds and shapes can work as repurposed garden planters. They are also ubiquitous at flea markets, yard sales, and thrift shops.

13. Filing Cabinet Drawers – Making the switch from paper to digital records? Don’t trash that old filing cabinet, but repurpose it into a clever garden planter instead.

Related on EcoSalon

6 Planter Ideas Using Funky and Unusual Items
DIY on the Fly: Mason Jar Herb Garden Planters in 6 Steps
17 Clever Repurposed Garden Planters to Add More Plants to Your Space

Tire as Planter, Wheelbarrow Decorative Planter, Herbs in Mason Jar, Wicker Basket Planter, and Red Mum in a Teacup via Shutterstock

The post 13 Creative DIY Garden Planters to Make Your Garden Green(er) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Spring is the time of year when our minds turn towards planting. Springtime bulbs, summertime vegetable gardens and autumn pumpkin patches–all have their origins in the early springtime with the bevvy of seed catalogs that come in the mail. While you are coming up with your plans, don’t forget to think about garden planters.

Garden planters can be easy and clever ways to incorporate plants both inside and outside your home. Whether nasturtiums on your deck or an herb garden on your kitchen windowsill, planters can be a great alternative.

Not only can containers be easier to manage and add visual interest to your home, they are also great ways to repurpose items that might end up in the trash or the recycling bin. In addition, using planters offers versatility, because planters can be moved around–that is unless you are using huge planters.

Image: karenblakeman

Here are some great ideas for repurposing goods as planters both inside and outside your home.

1. Use an old colander as a clever succulent planter.
2. Turn wooden wine boxes into a patio salad garden with this project idea.
3. How pretty is this vintage bread box planter?
4. Got an unused tackle box? Make it into a smart planter.
5. Don’t trash that old bureau, turn into a succulent planter instead.
6. Use leftover galvanized steel heating and air repair materials as pretty planters.
7. Old paint cans can make great small planters.
8. Reuse coffee cans as fun and colorful cactus planters.
9. Turn an old chandelier into a hanging planter.
10. Repurpose an unwanted suitcase for new meaning to the phrase container garden.
11. Even turn old soup ladles into succulent planters.
12. Cinder block bricks get a redo as useful planters.
13. Turn a teapot into a pretty planter for your favorite posies.
14. Use an empty wine bottle as a clever planter.
15. Drawers from an unwanted piece of furniture can be turned into stylish planters.
16. Repurpose pallets as vertical planters.
17. Give boring planters the boot, use old boots as planters!

Finally, container gardening does have it’s challenges., so once you’ve settled on your containers, read up about the process using these resources.

• Organic Gardening’s Guide to Container Gardening
• University of Illinois Extension Successful Container Gardens
• Colorado State Extension Container Gardening

Related on EcoSalon

Plant Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils Now to See Them in Spring

5 Fresh Ways to Bring Spring Indoors

OMG, Really? Luxury Blinged Out Garden Tools for the Organic Gardener

Top Image: rustiqueart

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Seven creative and inexpensive ways to improve your garden.

Whether you dapple with a few indoor plants, garden on the patio with containers or have a full-fledged backyard mini-farm, you’re probably looking for creative ways to save money, time and resources. Luckily for you, incorporating recycled and reused materials can actually make your gardening projects cheaper, easier and less time consuming – not to mention far less wasteful! Last year, we gave you seven reused items to boost your garden. This year, we rounded up seven more.

Reuse Germination

If you’re starting plants from seeds this year, don’t waste your hard-earned cash on tiny planters from the garden center. Save a few bucks – and get a little more use out of your throw-aways – by making your own seed-starters from recycled materials!

To make your own biodegradable mini-planter (that’s right, no transplanting!), you will need scissors and a toilet paper or paper towel roll.

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.

Unfortunately, most takeout containers – including mixed-material takeout cups and foam clam shells – are notoriously difficult to recycle. So, if you have a few boxes, cups and clam shells left over from eating out, why not reuse them as planters to boost your gardening projects?

Take Out Container Planters

Just wash out the container, fill with wet soil and plant your seedling as usual.

For best results, stick with plants that require little root space, such as single herb plants or succulents like cacti and aloe.

Not sure how planting in takeout boxes will match your garden decor? Think creatively and opt for decorative containers, such as Chinese takeout boxes and colorful to-go cups, to add a whimsical touch to your garden display – whether it’s in your backyard or your living room.

Popsicle Stick Garden Markers

If the kids are starting to chow down on ice pops for the summer, why not save those sticks for reuse in your garden?

To use your throw-aways to make customized markers for your garden or seedlings, you’ll need Popsicle sticks, a permanent marker and a reusable cloth.
How to make it:
1. Apply a few drops of rubbing alcohol or a solution of warm water and sea salt to the ends of your ice pop sticks. Use the reusable cloth to rub off any remaining stickiness.

2. Let the sticks dry in the sun for at least an hour.

3. Label your sticks with permanent marker, and use them to mark crops in your herb garden or veggie plot.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also make your own customized garden markers from old milk jugs using this simple tutorial from TLC.

Plastic Bottle Irrigation

Remembering to water your container veggies and potted flowers can be tough. But you could save loads of time and water by setting up a self-irrigation system in your container plants.

Sounds tricky, right? It actually couldn’t be simpler. All you’ll need is scissors, a plastic bottle, a hand shovel and about five minutes to get the job done.

How to make it:
1. Using scissors, carefully cut the bottom out of your plastic bottle. Remove bottle cap and set aside for recycling.

2. Use a hand shovel to dig a 6-inch-deep hole in the potted plant of your choice, as far away from the plant as possible to avoid damaging roots.

3. Place your plastic bottle in the hole, bottleneck end down. Use your hands to pack soil around the bottle so it stands upright.

4. Fill the bottle with water as needed, and watch it slowly seep into the soil – saving you time and nurturing your thirsty plants.

For a more advanced self-watering container, check out this tutorial from the University of Maryland Extension.

Light Bulb Terrariums

Not sure what to do with all those old incandescent light bulbs? Sure, you can recycle them. But why not find a clever way to reuse them first?

Once the electrical components are removed, light bulbs make perfect homes for air plants and water-saving succulents.

If you’re a seasoned crafter and have hollowed out a light bulb before, this project will be a walk in the park. But if you’ve never tinkered with a light bulb, consult a tutorial, like these from Instructables and Apartment Therapy, before getting started.

Once your bulb is cleaned out, all you’ll need is some succulent potting soil and small potting pebbles (and your plants, of course!).

How to make it:
1. Add a layer of potting pebbles to your light bulb as a foundation.

2. Add a layer of succulent potting soil, along with decorative moss if desired.

3. Gently place your succulent inside the bulb. Succulents don’t need much water. For best results, allow the soil to dry out a bit before watering.

Bucket Gardening

If you live in an apartment or don’t have a yard,container gardening is a great small-space solution for growing your own produce at home.

Garden retailers offer vast displays of jumbo terra cotta pots, plastic planters and wooden boxes – often priced at $50 or more. But why spend more when a recycled option could actually yield better results?

Five gallons of soil is optimal for most container veggies, including large plants like tomatoes, eggplant and squash. Larger containers tend to require more water, while smaller containers won’t provide enough root space.

Since they’re the perfect size, why not break out all those old 5-gallon buckets from pet food and potting soil and reuse them as planters for your container garden?

Just remember to wash each container well before filling with soil. Also, since you want to grow healthy food, avoid choosing containers that were used to hold toxic substances – even after they have been washed.

For best results, cut at least four 1/4-inch holes at the bottom of your buckets for draining excess water.

Wine Bottle Edging

Looking to add a touch of pizzazz to your garden or backyard landscaping? Rescue a few wine and beer bottles from your recycling bin to assemble a playful border that’s sure to turn heads.

Use this handy tutorial from ReadyMade or this video how-to from A Gardener’s Notebook to transform your recyclable glass into a piece of reuse art that’s perfect for the garden.

In the interest of full disclosure, you’ll need more than a few bottles for this.

So, if you don’t think your drinking habits can keep up, ask local restaurants, taverns and wineries if you can pick up some of their leftover bottles on a weekly basis until you’ve gathered enough to complete the project. Most will be happy to oblige.

-By Mary Mazzoni

More from Earth911:

PHOTOS: Rad Reused Planter Ideas

8 Things You Probably Aren’t Doing in Your Garden

PHOTOS: Stylish Recycled Decor for the Backyard

Images: girlingearstudio, MeganEHansen, jstuppy, sa_ku_ra, iEEEj, rfarmer, Tobyotter

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Melding the idea of eating and growing in the same place.

Not on the market yet, JAILmake’s Plantable will be making exhibit-goers both lustful and weak in the knees at next week’s Designersblock during the London Design Festival. The solid oak table is handmade, with trellis for legs and planters for feet. It’s capable of growing tomatoes, herbs, sweet peas and other climbers.

The creative team behind the Plantable explains, “the space provided for plants to grow in the four legs reflects on the distance we place between ourselves and the processes involved in making our food.”

Available via special order (for now).

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Oxygenate your space – and defy gravity while you’re at it.

If you happen to dwell in a cramped apartment with precious little counter and shelf space, these handmade ceramic sky planters are for you. Using Slo-flo irrigation technology, the Boskke feeds water directly to the roots, thus minimizing water loss. The way they hang is much simpler than it looks, or more complicated depending on your perspective. Place your plant into the planter, lock into place, flip, fasten and suspend. Fabulous.

Prices start at $49.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.

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Do you have stacks of the black plastic pots used for plants in your back shed collecting spider webs? Imagine if you could compost those pots?!

Unfortunately, those pots are not compostable. However, they would be if you’d bought them from EcoForms.

EcoForms is an environmentally friendly company, producing pots out of renewable grain fiber that are ultimately biodegradable. Luckily, they won’t biograde too quickly. The pots are meant to last at least five years, and apparently even promote better plant growth than plastic ones.

This Northern California company seems highly committed to sustainable gardening practices. Not only are their products earth friendly, but the family-run organization is also focused on sustainable business practices, such as the use of solar power to run their facility and bio-diesel delivery trucks. It doesn’t get much better than that!

In addition to selling several lines of pots, they have also developed other products, including organic fertilizer, herb garden kits, saucers and shuttle trays.

True, you may not have complete control as many nurseries sell their starter plants in the plastic-type pots. However, if you ever catch yourself about to reach for pots at the store, it seems you can best garden with a clear, eco-conscience with EcoForms.

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