Frugal Gardening : Junk art to unusual planters

[juliez]

I'd love to hear of any frugal planting idea's or how you use "junk" to decorate your yard. I'm excited about turning an old, rusted, broken down wheelbarrow of ours into a garden landscape. I'm also going to try tire planters but when it comes to toilets in my front yard, it's not going to happen. <chuckles> What is the "craziest" thing you have used in your landscaping/garden that turned out to be a beautiful piece of art? The one thing that I'm using is the limestone down our dirt roads for borders. It has taken me several trips with the lawn mower & trailer but wow is the word! And FREE too. <whoo hoo!>

Look'n forward to reading your posts,
Julie in FL

[Getcrafty.com!]

[stella]

i know a lot of people use tires for planters, but tire rubber uses a lot of phthalates and can contain cadmium, so i'd be leery of growing food plants in old tires.

i've gardened in old bathtubs (iron and fiberglass). the drainage isn't great with just the one drain hole, and they're not super attractive, but they're convenient and free (if someone is throwing out an old bathtub, that is).

[art_skoolgirl]

My friends mom used sinks. She was fasinated by them.

but sometimes it just looked like she had junk in her yard. I guess its something that takes some time to make it look great.

good luck.

[valagator]

in the twin cities area there are some really inventive folks who use old fat tired dirt bike/motorcycles as lawn garden decor and palnt all around them.. it is soo bizarre.

On my way to work there is a family that decorates with bowling pins and bowling balls....

I think the most interesting things are people who make planters out of concrete and old bottles and broken glass pottery pieces....

The most prevanlent are old bedframes used as the "garden bed"

You can use anything outdoors you want/have... whether or not your neighbors appreciate the sight is another thing!

[boheme-anne]

I'm glad someone posted about this!
We broke an old wheelbarrow that was my husband's grandfathers. It has that rustic look to it so I decided since there are rusted holes in the bottom that I would use it as a planter. I don't think everyone is going to understand the concept, but I think it's cool.
I also was rummaging through some of my Aunt's attic trash and found old tins and a collection of buttons my great grandmother was saving through the years. I hot glued the buttons on the tins making a half-fast mosiac and used them as planting pots for my porch. They look kind of shabby chic, I love it! Vintage buttons rock!
Other than that...well, being broke means you have to try to make things look nice when you have nothing! I guess that's the essence of being crafty sometimes. I flipped a rectangular laundry-basket (it doesn't look like a laundry basket) and made it into a little table for my outside cd player and it also doubles as a weed basket when I'm yanking up the dandylions.
I used a dippy-hippy wall tapestry as a tablecloth on my yucky plastic table. Hey, it's washable!
The rest were all knick-knack finds at the salvo or ebay. The crap nobody wants sometimes looks good in a yard. I think it's all about organization. One of my Buddha's is sitting next to all of my planters and I put peacock feathers in the pots so it looks kind of shrine-ish. I am also going to paint some rocks.
Now I'm just rambling, but maybe you got some ideas!

[Tomico Revilak]

I have a peg leg and a prosthetic leg left over from the previous owner that I've been planning to make planters out of. I found holloween cauldrens that I figured would make great planters that were really cheep after the holiday. I also have some old cans that still have tomatoes painted on them that I made planters for basil. I found a bunch of styrofoam coolers that I plan to paint and add moss to the outside of. They were only $2 a piece and are deep enough for my peppers and tomatoes.

The book "The Edible Container Garden" by Michael Guerra has a section in the back that gives the minimum growing depth for a variety of plants.

Tomico

[pudding]

When we bought our house we inherited an old claw footed, rusted bath tub in our backyard. Frogs use it to have their babies and from time to time there are some beautiful flowers on some waterlillies which grow in the tub.

[sara struever]

Someone mentioned concrete above, and so I thought I'd second that emotion. there are several other forms of diy "earth architecture" that would make for some fun back yard projects. its easier than you'd think!

Also, check out http://industrialevolution.org/

A few friends of mine make really beautiful planters out of old bus tire rims.

[dynamom]

Hi! I'm new and jumping right in with a picture. I came up with this idea last year and am doing it again this year. I took an old bundt cake pan and cut the inside part that comes up with some heavy duty wire cutters. Then I put it on my table in the center where the umbrella hole is and put the umbrella through.
I've got lots of found junk in my garden. Old metal signs on the fence, bottomless metal buckets/watering cans with flowers inside, found bricks for pathways, so many found items. I guess it's the one perk of living in a very old house where people used to just throw things in the woods.
Also a few other decorations like:

[msfish]

that's really clever, dynamom! alas, the ol'NYC fire escape has no room for patio furntiure - but if i did, my umbrella table would definitely have a bundt cake pan planter. :)