I have a terra cotta urn that I drilled a hole in. It's not perfect, but it has held up for at least three years now. Two of which I left it outside over the Chgo. winter. I guess it depends on the material and what you'd rather have. An urn you don't want inside or risking getting the urn you do want outside.

sandl.....when my mom died, i got two pots that she had bought the greenware, then she glazed and fired herself. i had the same problem, and successfully drilled drainage holes using a small masonry bit. it takes time and patience, but can be done. also, you need to very carefully score the glaze with a pointed object before drilling.

I am usually on the cooking forum and found this through a search on the internet. I purchased an unglazed terra cotta garlic keeper that I want to use for mushrooms but I will need to drill holes in the cover (the bottom already has holes).

I am not a very handy person but we do own a drill as well as a drexel (sp?) system. Does anyone know how to drill the hole so the cover doesn't crack or is it not advisable to do this?

sandl...if you don't want to drill a hole in it, then maybe you can put a piece of ceramic tile (or something similar)over the top to keep the water out. You can always set a plant on top of that for more decoration, if you want. but I'm sure you can successfully drill a hole in it with the right bit. there was a discussion on here last year maybe about this very thing. The poster had a good suggestion , but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Something about using a masonry bit and putting a piece of wood down first, then drilling through the wood to get to the pot? I don't know if that makes sense, but do a search on here and see if that post pops up.

If you can't/won't put a drain hole in the urn, then find a plug for the top to keep the water from coming in.