cheap planters

[Talula Fairie]

I'm expanding my container garden and could use some tips on cheap planters. 5 gallon plastic buckets would be fine with me, but I don't have any. I found a few websites that sell them, but I imagine they could be expensive to ship. Home Depot seems to sell a few for like a ridiculous price, about $10 each.

I also could have my husband make some planter boxes, would it be cheaper to just buy the wood and supplies and do that?

Any other suggestions?

[number572]

Have you ever seen a sack garden? Get feed sacks from a feed store or hardware store, fill with growing medium, lie it flat & poke a few small holes in it for the plants. It drains easily & is cheap. Here's a link to inexpensive container gardening ideas, scroll about 1/2way down the page to see a sack garden.

http://www.technologyforthepoor.com/...ure/Garden.htm

hth! Enjoy your gardening : (pretending thats a huge stalk of broccoli lol)

[AlwaysByMySide]

Home Depot sells 5 gallon buckets for like $2.75 out here. (The orange ones.)

I've had good luck asking on freecycle and craigslist. Even things like old plastic trashcans, cinder blocks, stuff like that, people will give away, and can be used as a planter. Large PVC pipes can have holes drilled into them and either hung vertically, or laid on the ground sideways. I've sewn up jeans that I've gotten for $1 at thrift stores or yard sales to do like the feed sack idea shown. When we move to our new house, I'm going to get a bunch of cinder blocks and let the kids paint them, and use it as a little barrier to a separate area for them to play in.

If you want wooden ones, it would be cheaper to buy the wood and make planter boxes, unless you find some kind of ridiculous deal. You can also ask on freecycle/craigslist for wood pallets (people give them away here for firewood all the time), and then you'd only have to buy the hardware.

[Talula Fairie]

What a great idea to use pools to garden in! Why did I not think of that? It's brilliant. I may just get one. I'll also have to go to Home Depot to check on their plastic containers...the online site didn't have any but it does sound promising that the Home Depot in your area has them.

[mindymom]

you could also check with local restaurants, especially delis or diners. they usually get some of their food in very large buckets, which they just throw out.

[AlwaysByMySide]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

What a great idea to use pools to garden in! Why did I not think of that? It's brilliant. I may just get one. I'll also have to go to Home Depot to check on their plastic containers...the online site didn't have any but it does sound promising that the Home Depot in your area has them.

If/when you find them (and if you don't find them there, Lowe's also has them here for about the same price, and evil Wal-mart has them in actually cute springy colors, for less than $5 each), may I suggest making a DIY Earthbox? (Google it - they are easy to make.) The plants I put into mine a couple of weeks ago are already huge. They are going to pay for themselves in my yields this year.

Those buckets are also regularly given away/sold on my craigslist.

[Talula Fairie]

Ok, those earthboxes look way too involved for me But a great idea just the same!

[rainbowmoon]

Pools work AWESOME! I have a friend who does this and it works wonderful!

Also try freecycle for free planters!

[ms.shell]

I get containers from a local nursery. They used to just let me have them, but now that oil is so high they cost them more, and so he has been asking $1 a piece for the big (7-15 gallon) pots, which is a bargain. So my recommendation is to call or stop by local nurseries. good luck!

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I often find interesting containers at thrift stores. Some I have include a large cracked teapot a rusted red wagon, a leaky watering can and several olive oil cans. I've also found actual planters, buckets, wooden boxes and lot's of other things. Yard sales are great for these kinds of treasures too.

One of my neighbors has a garden made up of old bathtubs used as raised beds.