Garden Spools

Les and Gina
by Les and Gina
6 Materials

I decided to make a planter box out of a cable spool and here's how I did it.

First I started with a plain medium size cable spool

Then I stained it a dark brown.

After I stained the whole spool I cut out 1 of the boards using a saw zall.

The best place to cut the board is right above the hole between the 2 nuts

Then I filled 2 one gallon milk jugs with water.

Placed the gallons into the spool

I made my planter boxes to sit inside the spool and I put 2 cotton wicks that I made from ripping up an old tee shirt.

I made an X in the milk caps and fed the end of the cotton wicks into it then I put the wick inside the milk jug

I set the planter box in the spool now if it doesn't rain for a while the planter box will get it's water from the milk jugs underneath thanks to the wicks all I have to do is lift up the planter and check the jugs every once and a while.

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  • Becky Sibley Baguss Becky Sibley Baguss on Mar 11, 2019

    Love this idea I’ll be trying this for the summer. But where did you get the spools from? Thank you in advance

  • Nancy J Nancy J on Aug 14, 2021

    Does the water and jugs get moldy if sitting in the heat?

  • Alice Alice on Aug 07, 2023

    When you lift the planter box to check the jugs doesn't the wick pull out of the jugs? I really like this idea but am confused about how the wicks are put back in the jugs while lowering the planter box back into place. How long are the wicks, maybe if they are long enough they don't pull out of the jugs, is that how this works?

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  • Brendan McConville Brendan McConville on Aug 04, 2020

    Cool idea! How did you get the wicks into the flower box. Did you drill holes in the bottom of the flower box or did you do it some other way?

  • Dawn payne Dawn payne on Apr 10, 2021

    Question please. If I can’t find planter boxes what do I line the spool with inside so that I do not loose soil?

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