I am looking for some ideas of things I could use that will not cost me much of anything for gardening containers. I could decorate a whole house on my own, but lack creativity when it comes to gardening. Any instructional plans for something I could build myself?
Why don't you go to the thrift or opportunity stores in your area and see what they've got on offer. You might be surprised what you'll find there. For a few dollars you can create something truly unique and original. Also, talking with other gardeners about the type of containers they use, will probably give you plenty of ideas. Happy gardening.
Thanks for the tip. The planting containers they sell are usually garbage, but I was thinking of maybe getting some metal containers, glass jars, or even wooden boxes. I guess I could paint them and customize them so they look good in my yard.
You can use boots, for planters. I like to save my butter containers, cookie containers to use as planters or catch the water from the plants. Also tin cans work great as planters. Milk containers are great also, there are so many things you can use without really spending a lot of money.
Poll your family, friends, and neighbors. I did a container garden last year (for the first time) and didn't want to drop a fortune on containers. Home Depot has some great ones for under $20 and FYI, I waited for it, they never went on sale... Target containers DID go on sale, around July, but the pickings, by then, were slim. Anyway, I found a bunch of people had them laying around their garage who were willing to give them away. I also drove around on "trash pick up" day (my town does a big item pick up twice a year) and found a few planters in fine condition. (Those were lucky finds, I think.) I put a wanted ad on "Freecycle." The local nurseries in my area also have a bunch of their used containers in the back for a couple bucks. Good for hanging planters, for sure, but the others weren't the look I was going for. Here's a link to my garden journal if you want pic's of last year and this year. (We've expanded!) Log In
For smaller plants Dollar Tree and Deals have nice plastic plant pots in a variety of colors. Deals has some ceramic and metal plant pots too but they cost more than $1. Deals is Dollar Tree's big sister where the items have a variety of prices.
I have never heard of freecycle, but it seems like this would be a good resource to try, especially since people are spring cleaning and trying to get rid of their old things. So I just place an ad asking for what I want and people will respond?
You can get some great deals from freecycle. People moving or just want to get rid of stuff in the house will offer it on freecycle. There are groups in many areas that maybe able to get you want you want. I have seen people offering moving boxes, baby food and lots of books.
I just saw a really cool on Craigslist of a person who was advertising free tires for pick up. The way they advertised them was they were painted all different colors, stacked on top of one another in a sort of pyramid fashion, and then used as planters. I thought it looked really neat and unique!
I think freecycle is good, if you check it out then you'd be able to see a lot of offers on there and I'm sure you'd relate to it and find something that's suitable for you, good luck.
For smaller plants like herbs I think you could use pretty much anything from old mugs to small jars of peanut butter. For larger plants, I once saw some videos using plastic pipes to start the plants and then eventually they'd move it to a bigger pot. The pipes had hole drilled onto properly spaced out and what's great about it is that you could also put in an automated water system since it was mostly used to grow plants indoors.
Check flea markets for old wagons, milk crates, and metal wash tubs. Those make good larger size containers. Rubbermaid containers aren't pretty but are often sold at thrift stores or yard sales or craigslist and also are good as large pots. You can make them prettier by painting them or building a wooden frame around the outside. Ditto what the others said about small pots. Those are easy to find. And if you're looking at those expensive little biodegradeable pots to start seeds in, skip them. Get flat bottomed ice cream cones instead.
Heya, My parents love planting herbs for their kitchen garden. And, sometimes I get amazed the ideas they come up with. They use Trash can container, Colander container etc. You can (Google) to get some interesting ideas about low cost gardening containers. here are some of them which might be helpful for you: Log In Log In Good Luck!!
