Our deck planters were in need of a modern makeover after we painted the house earlier this summer. One wild hair, a week or two of recycling and two aluminum trash cans later…
It’s hard to find big planters that don’t cost a fortune and we really needed something with a little, uh, heft to it. I bought one tall and one short, plus a small one with a lid for my kitchen-to-deck compost bin (not shown), which gets dumped about once a week into my big compost tumbler behind the shed.
For the planters, I punched drainage holes in the bottom using a decent-sized Phillip’s-head screwdriver and a hammer. I filled the bottom third with empty bottles and cans from the recycling bin to reduce the amount of dirt required and to help with proper drainage.
The large can is purely decorative, so I used up my plastic and aluminum recycling in that one. The smaller one is for my herbs. I don’t know how much aluminum is actually leeching into my dirt from the garbage can itself, but I did consciously fill the bottom with empty glass bottles instead of more metal, and especially no plastic.
Finally, I planted the same golden flowers in the flower box on our garden shed a bit further out in the yard. No recycling effort here, other than a little fresh compost.
Now all I need are some bright yellow throw pillows for the deck furniture and we’ll have rounded out this new color scheme quite nicely!
Tags: outdoor living, outdoor rooms, recycling, trash can planters
Love, love, LOVE this!
Oh wow I love this. I never thought if using those! Great idea, thanks!
I love this idea! Another great option is to re-use metal paint cans, just remove all the paint first.
juliet- i LOVE these! what a great idea.