DIY Container Garden

Maegan
by Maegan
4 Materials
$25
2 Hours
Easy
A backyard can be a beautiful place, unfortunately, mine has not been. It's been a sort of a jungle with a lot of baby trees from fallen acorns, weeds, and overgrown monkey grass. After working to clear it out, I knew what I wanted to do next was start a container garden!
Here's the before jungle.
Now here's the same spot just cleared out. The only thing we kept were the random rocks, most of the monkey grass and an azalea bush. It looks much cleaner, but I wasn't done!
A friend of mine who owns cows had some extra buckets that he didn't need anymore. Have you seen the price of container buckets at different stores? VERY expensive for what it is! So, I happily took his buckets and drilled holes in the bottom of each one for drainage.
I cleaned the dirt off each bucket and removed any stickers or lettering.
Then, with gold spray paint that I had on hand, I start to spray each bucket. Because it was so warm outside, the paint dried in no time so I was able to fix any lines or spots that I might have missed.
Meanwhile, why the buckets were drying, I laid out mulch in the area I wanted to clean up, and moved the rocks that were laying in the middle of the garden bed and made an outline of my new container garden.


Lastly, I added soil and a tomato plant to each bucket. I even found a rock in the mix that looked like the start of Arkansas so I spray painted it too!


Here's a before and after of what a little mulch, spray paint and free buckets can do to transform any garden space!
I added soil and a tomato plant to each bucket.
I arranged all of the buckets so that they would get plenty of sunlight!
I even found a rock in the mix that looked like the start of Arkansas so I spray painted it too!
 
Here's a before and after of what a little mulch, spray paint and free buckets can do to transform any garden space!
 
Suggested materials:
  • Buckets   (Free from any dairy farmer)
  • Gold Spray Paint
  • Soil and compost   (Home Depot)
See all materials
Maegan
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  3 questions
  • Jewellmartin Jewellmartin on May 21, 2017

    @Maegan I think you have done a fine job of making a garden out of an unruly lawn. From what I see, when you are ready to expand, you have the space for it. Do you have plans for the next step? Have you had to revise your plan yet? Best wishes 😇

  • Ela466197 Ela466197 on Jun 07, 2017

    I have tried container pots for tomato plants to no avail. They grew tall, did not produce. What's the secret?

  • Darlene Henderson Darlene Henderson on Jun 12, 2017

    Sid you skim off grass before the mulch? Im doin same thing but didnt know

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  • Bab24887393 Bab24887393 on Jun 08, 2017

    They grow really well in pots and come back every year. They will need to be divided after a couple years.

  • Linda Sikut Linda Sikut on Jun 14, 2017

    I agree, I put some hostas in pots to green up some areas. I have a bench that my son & wife gave us that has room for a plant at each end. If I used the whole thing and filled it with dirt, I would be so heavy that I wouldn't be able to move it, so I got some large plastic pots that weren't quite big enough to go to the bottom and put them in. The shape of the area holds them near the top. I put hostas in those pots and put the bench near the garden.

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