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Turn Household 'Junk' Into Garden Treasures
Don't kick discarded household items to the curb — send them to the garden as planters, art pieces and conversation starters
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
Sad, broken-down items around the house don't necessarily need to be sent to the landfill. They can live smashing new lives when placed outside. While I'm not a huge fan of a toilet used as a planter, its vintage sisters the pedestal sink and claw-foot tub can pull off glorious garden placement. Clever gardeners never stop coming up with creative recycling, reclaiming and repurposing ideas for the landscape. From boots to bottles and coffee tins to cattle troughs, gardens provide plenty of possibilites. See if any of these ideas are right for you, your junk and your yard.
by mary phillips
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Bottle trees. Commonly seen around the Southeastern United States, they were thought to capture bad spirits and keep them away from the house. The reason they are so often seen with all-blue bottles is because blue is associated with warding off spirits (remember Haint Blue porch ceilings? They always provide interesting conversations here on Houzz.)
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| Salvaged claw-foot tub. Fish and plants now soak in this vintage bathtub, composing a unique pond garden. |
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by Debbiedoo's
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| A pallet and wellies. An old wood pallet sports a new coat of stain and flowers in between its planks. Finishing off the vignette is a pair of gardening boots repurposed as planters. The plants aren't edible here, but would you eat a salad that was grown in a boot? I'm on the fence. |
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by Concreteworks
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| Recycled glass. This gabion fountain provides a soothing trickle and bold color in the garden. |
by Whitney Lyons
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Industrial electric pump housings. I'm not sure where one picks these up, but they certainly make for interesting conversation out in the garden. Another planter seen farther down is an old chili pot.
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by Unskinny Boppy
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| Salvaged ladder. Climbing this ladder would be unwise, but it has rickety charm as a light fixture bedecked with mason jar hurricanes and a Moravian star. Check out more uses for ladders |
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| Tins. Rather than pitching that old pepper tin, fill it with dirt and start some seeds growing on a sunny windowsill. Once the plants are a few inches high, you can transplant them to larger planters or to the ground outside. |
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| Coffee cans. Different degrees of fading color make this weathered wall of metal coffee tins even more interesting. |
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Salvaged boards. A variety of used boards bring bright color to this garden fence and bench. The jagged edge gives trees and shrubs a sculptural backdrop.
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| Cattle feeder. These tin tubs may be too leaky to hold water for farm animals anymore, but they hold succulent minigardens very well. |
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Mary Randolph Carter is the godmother of the junk-in-the-garden movement. This book made me envision crusty items in new ways for the garden way back in 1997, and I still pull it out and flip through it all the time.
Tell us: Are there any repurposed items working hard in your garden? Let us know in the Comments section. And if you have a photo, we'd love to see it!
More:
10 Imaginative Garden Ideas
Unexpected Edible Gardens
Gussy Up Your Garden Shed
Tell us: Are there any repurposed items working hard in your garden? Let us know in the Comments section. And if you have a photo, we'd love to see it!
More:
10 Imaginative Garden Ideas
Unexpected Edible Gardens
Gussy Up Your Garden Shed
Ideabook published on June 22, 2012.
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http://www.shadesoflight.com/single-custom_pulley_pendant.html
http://www.shadesoflight.com/refurbished-tub-faucet-sconce.html
The second photo is a discarded shrub found at the side of the road--complete with its root system. After power washing all the dirt out, I sprayed painted it copper. Then placed it on an old car wheel that was also sprayed painted. I love the look that the branches have that seem like they've been caught in a strong wind.