7 ways to put a leaky bucket to good use at your dacha

If you have an old bucket, trough, wheel or even a refrigerator, do not rush to throw away such goodness, because it may come in handy. The second life of old things in the country is very real, you just have to approach the issue more practically and with new ideas.

From articles of this kind, you can create a whole section, because this is not the first time we are talking about how to effectively use various old items in the country. Today we will continue the series of articles with even more interesting and original ideas, thanks to which you can save money on purchasing new decor, as well as diversify your country house design and life.

Let us immediately draw your attention to the fact that there are simply hundreds of ideas and crafts, original things and handmade items, so we will not be able to show and describe absolutely everything. But if readers of the DachaDecor.ru website are interested in such information, we will be happy to provide a topic for study in continuation of this article.

Country pond from an old basin

An original solution was applied to a small plastic basin that had either become unusable or lost its aesthetic appearance. Now it is a small pond, which is made very simply. A small hole was dug in a convenient place, where the basin was installed. Further, just a few types of plants around the new summer cottage, and nice decor. The only issue is the periodic removal of water from such a pond, but we will leave that to the pumps.

Options for modern design of flower beds

Designing flower beds and flower beds does not require a lot of money. Use simple things in creative ways when decorating your home garden.

Use the following number of things for original solutions:

• Tires.
• Banks.
• Cars.
• Old furniture or plumbing.
• Watering cans.
• Buckets.
• Bottles.

To get creative, try pouring soil into old shoes or a wheelbarrow for flower seedlings. An old bathtub or drawer can take on another life if these items are used for decoration.

Look at the photo of the flowerbed design and choose the best option for your garden. Thanks to the flowerbed, it is easier to maintain order in your own yard and impress your guests!

Playground accessories

From old and unnecessary things you can make interesting accessories for the playground. At first glance, this is not a very attractive invention, but this is where children can let off steam. Get ready for it to be noisy and fun, but these are costs.

A simple accessory can be made from old frying pans, pots, plastic bowls and flower pots, bottles and other unnecessary items. All you need is a structure frame and a simple body kit with clamps or nails and screws.

Do-it-yourself flowerbeds from scrap materials after renovation.

I don’t know about you, but I’m most curious about flower beds made from the remains of new materials. Perhaps because we are renovating our house, and there are plenty of such materials. Let's see where they can be applied.

How to make a “basket” flowerbed from linoleum.

From a dozen iron rods and leftover linoleum, it’s not at all difficult to make a beautiful and large flowerbed-basket. Moreover, it is not necessary to fill the basket with soil and plant new flowers in it; if you surround a peony or daylily bush with this basket, it will also be beautiful.

DIY vertical flower beds made from plastic pipes.

You can make a vertical flower bed from plastic pipes. The depth of such clubs is very small - only plants with a shallow root system - purslane, succulents, etc. - will feel good here. Where will the excess water flow? If you make holes at the bottom, dirty water will stain the wall. You can make an irrigation system with tubes for drip irrigation of each module, or you can do it simpler - use such a design as a flowerpot for cups with small flowers. The solution of painting the pipe in a bright color is very cute.

How to make flower beds from hollow building blocks.

By gluing a mesh to the bottom of the block, it can be used as a flower bed. The coloring of the blocks is wonderful. Perhaps it's wallpaper?

Flowerbeds made from wooden pallets.

There are a lot of ideas on what to make from pallets , but the option of a flower garden-kennel for a dog looks unexpected. I hope this is a country version of the kennel and the dog has a more comfortable permanent place. In any case, the pallets must be thoroughly sanded, protruding nails must be recessed and painted, because... The dog could be injured on the untreated surface of the tray.

DIY flower beds made of cement.

Beautiful and simple containers for flowers can be made from cement. We take any container - a basin, a bucket, a pot. We cover the bottom with a piece of reinforcing construction mesh; this will be the future hole of our pot. Cover the rest of the surface with cling film - it is soft and fits tightly to the surface. We cover it with ordinary cement mortar, a layer of mesh on top and another layer of mortar. We decorate with pebbles, crushed stone, pieces of tiles, etc. When the solution has hardened, we take out our mold and get a finished pot of any shape and size.

An original version of a garden container for flowers is obtained using soft shapes. We fill the original pot with something heavy and press it into a plastic bag filled with solution. When the mold has hardened, we put it in a bag moistened with liquid cement mortar, wrap the edges of the bag inside and coat it with the solution. An important detail is the rope tie.

Gabion flowerbeds made of pebbles and mesh.

Gabion flower beds are a fashionable trend in landscape design. Perhaps this type of flower bed is more appropriate as part of a supporting wall in the garden.

The country washbasin is transformed.

We already know how to make a washing area in the country, and therefore there is no need to feel sorry for the old washbasin... but you definitely don’t need to throw it away either. Old, shabby and rusty, it makes a great decor for any fence or wall. All you need is a little nutritious substrate and a nice ornamental plant that can be placed inside. Look at the photos below to see how original this product looks.

Material selection

The first thing to think about is defining boundaries. The borders will serve as a means of dividing them between the flower garden and other vegetation. Their length should reach at least 20 cm in depth. As a result, the grass does not fall into the area of ​​ornamental plants, and the soil does not spill onto the paths.

Borders optically separate the path from the lawn, keeping plants safe from possible trampling. The convenience of mowing the lawn depends on the shape of the flower bed. If the shape is curved or round, it is problematic to use a lawn mower. A shape with straight lines will greatly simplify this task.

• A wide range of materials are used to make flower beds. You can purchase plastic edging, tape, strips, barriers, concrete palisades, or wooden stakes from a gardening store.
• Natural materials made of wood and stone, combined with any other old objects (bricks, pallets, etc.), are successful.
• Flower beds with wide edges are impressive. Concrete, brick, boulders or railway sleepers are used as working materials.
• Metal strips perfectly hide the edges; the fence is hidden under the bark.

A budget version of the flower bed is provided. A number of basic materials are suitable for this: glass bottles, jars, old bricks, tiles and tires. The bottom of the bottles makes good columns.

Country decor from old containers

We have already talked about using old containers. Baths under the pond, buckets in the form of flower containers and so on. Today we will simply update what was mentioned earlier with a simple picture below, which contains quite interesting products that turn into original compositions.

A barrel, a trough, a bathtub - all of this can still hold water, which means it can become a nice water feature, and practically for free.

Types of flower beds of regular composition

Before you start work, you need to decide what type of flower beds we want to create with our own hands at the dacha:

• Ordinary amateur gardeners in open areas arrange simple flowerbeds with a horizontal layout flush with the surface or slightly raised in the center so that the water drains better. They are planted with flowers of the same type, or different varieties. Or plants of 2-3 types;
• along the walls of the house or paths, ridges are arranged - narrow, long stripes with low-growing plants along the edges and tall plants in the center;
• lawns or other plantings can be bordered with borders of ornamental plants (cineraria, sedum) or low-growing ones of the same species (alissum, lobelia);
• plantings of large flowers or ornamental shrubs (dahlia, amaranth, peony) are called tapeworms;
• from the already mentioned elements you can create parterres - compositional combinations of lawns, ridges, borders, alpine slides, etc.;
• on rocky areas that are difficult to adapt to anything else, rock gardens (rockeries) and alpine slides are laid out;
• mixborders are an elegant society of colorfully combined flowers, picking up the baton from each other for continuous flowering.

Using an old bathtub in the countryside

Many lines have been written about this sanitary accessory, but today another colorful idea is a flower bath. An old and slightly battered bathtub, which can no longer be used for water procedures and the production of water structures, will do an excellent job for another purpose.

You can cover the bathtub with pieces of old broken tiles, colored plastic and ceramics, and other colorful objects, install it in the garden or nearby a country house, and plant a lot of ornamental plants in its bowl. Agree, a very original solution that can even complement the landscape design of the dacha.

Garden umbrella stand made from old buckets

Using buckets, you can create an aesthetically pleasing stand for a garden umbrella that will hold it securely. To make it you will need two buckets of different diameters and a piece of pipe to fix the umbrella leg.

Place the pipe in the center of the smaller bucket and fill it 3/4 full with fresh cement solution. Then place the smaller container in a larger bucket and fill the space between the walls with cement. When the fastening material has hardened, the stand is ready for use.

It can be placed in a beautiful large pot, covered with a layer of expanded clay and soil and planted with annual flowers.

Don't throw away your old toilet!

We recently studied the topic of how to build a new toilet at the dacha, and therefore we definitely don’t need the old toilet. But we don’t send it to the landfill either, because ceramic products for the bathroom become decor for a garden or even a country yard. We agree that placing such a “miracle” near the threshold of a country house is overkill, but if it’s somewhere in the corner of the country house, it will be cute and a lot of fun. Several colors will decorate old plumbing fixtures and add a touch of originality!

But we won’t stop there either, because even more exclusive country decor can be obtained from two toilets at once. They did not expect?

Old bird buckets

Old buckets, thanks to a few simple manipulations with them, can turn into an original birdhouse or bird feeder. Plastic products are better suited for these purposes.

If the bucket has a lid, then put it on for the birdhouse; if not, make one from scrap material and fasten it well. Turn the container upside down. Make four round holes (two larger and two smaller diameters) in its walls and fit the poles. Decorate the top of the structure with a coconut flowerpot or other means.

Place the birdhouse on a high base. Such a bird house will attract not only birds, but also everyone’s attention.

Making a poultry feeder is even easier. Cut holes at the bottom of the bucket at equal distances. Place the container in a bowl, fill it with grain and close the lid. The feed will come from above as the bird eats it.

Second life for an old bike

Almost every summer resident has a bicycle. But a previously broken two-wheeled vehicle is also hidden in the barn. If this is the case, then you shouldn’t scrap the bike, because they will give you pennies for it. But if you use it for a different purpose, it will be much more interesting.

You can use several boxes in our composition, and then it will come out completely original. Again flowers and nutrient substrate, again a little originality and your own ideas. The result is really cool country decor!

Metal and plastic buckets

Are there a bunch of leaky old iron buckets in your shed? There is a reason to implement an original idea - to make a vertical flower bed at the dacha.

Vertical flower bed in rustic style made from metal buckets

For the base of the flower bed, take the largest bucket or trough. A vertical pin made of thick reinforcement or iron pipe is fixed in it. For stability, the lower container can be loaded with several heavy stones. You need to make a hole in the center of each bucket in the bottom. The containers are strung on a pin and filled with drainage material and nutritious soil. For a greater decorative effect, bucket-vases are tilted in different directions from the axis. The best plants for such a flowerbed are ampelous varieties of annuals - petunias, lobelias. If the composition will be used for a landscape in a rustic (village) style, you should not paint old buckets. In other cases, painting white, green or brown would be appropriate. Near the playground, you can use bright, contrasting colors.

Plastic household buckets and special containers intended for selling plants are an excellent inexpensive material for making original flower arrangements.

Separate plastic buckets of contrasting colors with plants will enliven the monotonous backfill of stone chips and decorate the playground

Sometimes, for landscaping at the dacha, many plants with a closed root system are purchased from garden centers and nurseries. After they are planted in a permanent place, a large amount of plastic containers are released. You can also make an original flower bed from it. Annual flowers, tuberous begonia, pelargonium, seaside cineraria and many other plants will be a wonderful decoration for a garden flower bed if you first plant them in plastic container containers and then arrange them tightly on a plane in the form of a flower bed. Such groups of colors look even more impressive in raised metal structures.

Flower beds made of plastic containers on the ground and in a special stand

Barrels, buckets and troughs

We have already mentioned the old country containers in which we stored or transported water, washed or kneaded something. But when they saw the cute products, they couldn’t stop.

Leftover paint from a home or garage renovation can help turn old barrels into new garden features or flower containers.

With a little work, a wooden ladder, or just a structure made from old timber, as well as a few buckets, will become a flower stand.

And an old and leaky trough, from which you can’t even make a shower tank, will become another product for flowers. And if the trough is painted in cheerful colors, then it will not be a shame to identify the product in the middle of the garden.

Barrels, tubs, tubs

Once upon a time, wooden utensils made by coopers filled cellars in private homes and served for storing sauerkraut, cucumbers, and mushrooms. Now not every home makes such supplies; many limit themselves to freezers, and there are plastic barrels in the cellars.

Caring for wooden containers is labor-intensive and troublesome, and without it, it quickly loses its tightness and becomes unusable.

But we must hurry to throw away or burn old barrels and tubs. They make wonderful miniature flower beds and vases.

Miniature flowerbed in half of an old wooden barrel

If the barrel is too high, it can be cut into two parts suitable for planting flowers. The internal and external surfaces are cleaned of dirt and washed. Depending on the design style, the wood can be painted or left in a natural tone.

The flower bed is prepared as follows:

• the inner surface of the barrel is lined with thick film or other plastic insulating material;
• at the bottom you need to make several small holes to drain excess water;
• a drainage layer is poured down (expanded clay, broken bricks, shards, pebbles);
• The upper part of the container is filled with fertile soil, not reaching the edge of 3-4 cm, for ease of watering.

Seedlings of bright annual flowers suitable for a rustic-style garden are planted in a barrel or tub - viola, annual dahlias, amaranth, ornamental varieties of cabbage and sunflowers.

A traditional composition can be made from a sawn-off barrel, imitating a fallen bowl from which a stream of flowers pours onto the ground.

A small flower garden from an old barrel with multi-colored viola spilled on the ground

Original flower sink

Do you have an old sink after renovation, but a previously replaced faucet has been lying around idle in the garage for a couple of years? We came up with a purpose for these things too. Arrange a small container for flowers that can be placed absolutely anywhere. This composition will look harmonious in the garden, in the flower bed, and even in the green area of ​​the patio.

Plant cute annuals in the sink, attach a faucet to the side, and stick a couple of plates and bowls inside that you no longer use.

Brick borders

Most owners throw away the old red brick. However, this is an ideal item for decorating a home flower bed. Old shingles can provide similar benefits. Both are great for creating borders between flowers and grass.

• To create a flowerbed you will need a sufficient number of old bricks. It is preferable to choose clinker bricks due to their more attractive appearance.
• Place the material on sand, concrete base or soil. When creating a flower bed, use the laying method: “flat” or “on edge”.
• In the second case, we get advantages in terms of height, but difficulties arise when processing the grass with a lawn mower.
• Build bricks 3 cm high above ground level. Otherwise, you will need to trim the grass additionally with scissors.
• Brick plays a key role in a classic or English interior.

Flower pots made from old shoes

In one of the articles we talked about how to use old shoes for flowers. There were also sneakers or boots, but not so important. At the moment, we have decided to expand the collection of old shoes, which were sent to the dacha in order to continue their service. A whole stand of shoe flower pots is a good idea for any garden.

New life for old things

Many of us have to wage a constant struggle with the systematic accumulation of old, out-of-use or broken items in the attic, garage or barn.
Their number is constantly increasing, and friends and relatives are making their contribution to the accumulation process. With the words “take it, it will be useful at the dacha,” they bring the most incredible iron, wooden and plastic objects. A radical way to combat the accumulation of old trash is to decisively take it to a landfill. But you can go the other way and give some old things a new life. For example, make original flower beds with your own hands from available materials. Let’s not dwell on the popular flower beds made from plastic bottles or old car tires among janitors and other housing and communal services representatives, but let’s take a closer look at more creative options for flower arrangements made from unusual things.

Some good ideas for arranging a flower garden at your dacha:

Country train made of boxes and logs

To create such an interesting country train, you will need very little - a log, a chainsaw, a few old boxes, nails, and ornamental plants. Yes, you can also use paint if you want to paint everything.

So, take a chainsaw and cut circles for the wheels. We lay the rest of the log in the area where it is necessary to create decor. We place several boxes in front of the log, and nail the finished wheels onto the log. Well, nothing complicated, but the original product is ready!

What can be made from construction waste?

After the renovation is completed, there is always a lot of different waste left. Almost all of them can be used for landscaping the site. Even construction waste is not useless.

For example, tiles removed from a wall in a kitchen or bathroom can be used to create beautiful garden paths or borders. Used drywall or plastic is quite suitable for creating useful and aesthetic crafts.

Option #1 – drywall and plywood

Drywall, plywood, OSB boards are universal materials. By cutting them into pieces of the required size and fastening them with a mounting profile, you can create amazingly beautiful flowerpots, set up a treehouse for a child, make useful things for decorating a gazebo, and make durable bird feeders.

This charming little cow is made of plasterboard. To make it, you just need to form a square flowerpot from plasterboard, attach a muzzle, paint it and install it on the legs of an old stool

Option #2 – tin and stainless steel

You can create a lot of interesting crafts from tin and stainless steel. Pieces of material are suitable for making garden lamps, ashtrays, urns, hanging containers for seedlings or flowers. Even tin cans of paints and adhesives can be used.

You can see what a lamp made from a jar looks like in the video:

Option #3 – lumber

Anything will do on the farm, especially if that “everything” is leftover lumber. Beams, slats, and boards are perfect for creating containers, boxes, shelves, racks, vertical gardening systems, and stands.

A used parquet board can become a charming horse container if you add a funny horse face and a mane of twigs. The figurine can be painted or varnished

Option #4 – thermal insulation materials

Remains of foil insulation are useful when creating garden figures. They can be used to decorate the outside of sculptures. The foil surface reflects beautifully in the sun and makes the craft stand out against the background of the garden. However, there may be a more practical application for insulation - thermal insulation of greenhouses and utility rooms.

The video below shows ideas for crafts made from foil or foil insulation:

Option #5 – battle and remaining bricks

Bricks and building blocks can be used even if they are split. These are ideal materials for the construction of fences, borders, and flower beds.

Fairytale castles and columns and lamps will look great in the garden. Brick can be used to lay out the bases for a durable table and benches in the gazebo.

Brick can be used for zoning the territory of the site. Fencing separates flower beds from garden plants to focus attention on the decor

How to use an old refrigerator in the countryside

In previous articles on our site there was a note on how to make a greenhouse from an old refrigerator. But now we have another idea - the production of country furniture!

This, one might say, is even cabinet upholstered furniture, since the refrigerator is lined on all sides and even lined with foam rubber on the seat and backrest. In short, through absolutely simple steps and spending just a couple of hours of free time, an old refrigerator can be transformed into a small ottoman or sofa. What’s positive is that there is space inside the furniture to store various items, something like a cabinet.

By the way, judging by the internal lining, if you add foam plastic and insulating film to the walls of the refrigerator, you can also get a portable refrigerator-thermos for cold drinks. Just imagine how you are relaxing in the shade of a green garden on a new ottoman, and in order to quench your thirst, you no longer run into the house, but simply take out cool lemonade from the same ottoman. Everything is very practical!

Flowerbeds with a fence

This option is suitable if you need to decorate a large area, for example, a long flower bed along a garden path. In stores you can buy ready-made sections made of plastic, or you can make a fence yourself from wooden planks.

To prevent plants from creeping out of the flower garden, a border tape is dug in at the border. After this, sections of the fence are installed. The lower the plants living in the garden bed, the lower the fence should be.

Flowerbed from an old bed

An old bed at the dacha will not bring a lot of money if you sell it for scrap, in principle, like the old bicycle we talked about above. More headache than profit. But it will easily become another decorative product. Install not even the bed itself, but only the bed, its side parts in the garden, or even in the middle of the lawn. Next, make a raised flower bed right where the bed frame is. Well, that’s all, now it’s just a lot of flowers and caring for them to get a beautiful look and aroma.

Old furniture

The inquisitive gaze of the florist also does not ignore old furniture, of which a lot accumulates in the dacha. Old armchairs, chairs, cabinets and chests of drawers - any piece of furniture can suddenly bloom. Flowers are planted directly in furniture boxes or plastic flower pots are inserted into their space.

A small arrangement of flowers in the seat of a folding wooden chair

A fashionable flower garden is made from parts of an old bed. After removing the mattress, use the frame and decorative backrests. This flowerbed design spread from England and humorously plays on the play on words - “flowerbed” translated from English flowerbed, bed for flowers. The beds can be wooden or iron, the main thing is to protect them from adverse climatic influences (prime and paint).

Primroses, viola, boxwood, ivy, miniature conifers make up the decoration of a luxurious flowerbed in the bed – flowerbed

Hanging utensils in the country kitchen

From the same old bicycle that was used for dacha decor, you can take one wheel for kitchen decor in the dacha. It will make an excellent hanger for utensils - saucepans and ladles, but it can also make a stand. The only thing is that the old wheel will not look very organic in a new and tidy kitchen, and therefore it should be put in order.

It is clear that in general there is no point in restoring a rotten and crooked bicycle wheel, but in a more or less tolerable condition, you can try. We will need to strip the wheel almost to the base, wipe off dust with a rag, and then, preferably, degrease it. Now you can simply paint it in the desired color with aerosol paint from a can, or any other simple brush.

Fencing made of large materials

You can use stones and boulders to build a flower bed for a large garden. A particularly beautiful effect is achieved when growing tall plants.

• Most flower beds can be built with your own efforts. In the end, we get a beautiful and neat garden.
• The service life of the structure also depends on the materials used. Plastic and wood wear out a lot compared to stone and concrete.
• Concrete is great for edging. Its flatness allows the creation of low walls or strips at ground level.

For the fencing to be effective, it is recommended to dig the concrete into the ground at a level of 20 cm.

Please note that such a fence must correspond to the general style of the garden. Thanks to modern technology, there are many ways to change the color of concrete. Properly selected elements will serve as a worthy decoration.

Mailbox with a modern twist

In a few years, humanity may completely forget about mailboxes, because there is less and less correspondence in envelopes. It’s all because of email, chats and other innovations of the era, but that’s not what we’re talking about today. While we still receive letters, or simply notifications regarding payment for electricity and water used at the dacha, we need a mailbox. You can make it from anything, but it will be very interesting if the box is made from an old PC system unit. It's very simple, you just need to install the system unit near the entrance to the yard and slightly secure it from being opened by third parties!

Baskets, boxes and Euro pallets

Large wicker baskets were probably used for laundry or for storing crops. Now rose, hydrangea and boxwood have settled in them

An ordinary wooden pallet (Euro pallet) is a good way to make a vertical flower garden. Depending on the light, it can be planted with succulents or shade-tolerant ferns and ampels

New chair from an old cart

A country cart, or simply a wheelbarrow, with which we transport crops or use it at a construction site, can be used even after a breakdown. This often happens when the body is welded and a new one is installed in place of the old wheel. But if a breakdown has rendered the cart completely inoperable or there is no desire to repair it, we suggest using the cart for another purpose.

The picture below shows how easy it is to make a completely comfortable and original chair based on a trolley. Just 100-200g of paint, a secure installation and a few cushions to create a comfortable space.

Flowers on wheels: a flowerbed made from a cart, wheelbarrow and bicycle

Using old carts to decorate your garden has long been a classic. In combination with a wicker fence and clay pots, they will give the garden a Russian flavor.

Flowerbed from a cart

Flowerbed from a wheelbarrow

Flowerbed from a cart

Red flowerbed-cart

For a more modern style, use a bicycle. Place baskets of flowers on the trunk, seat and steering wheel, and your dacha will look a la Provence.

Related article: How to insulate a brick wall from the inside - instructions from professionals

Flowerbed Provence

Flowerbed made from a bicycle

Bike flower bed

Bicycle with basket

And the old ball will come in handy.

Yes, you won’t be able to play with such a ball anymore, but that’s not scary, because it can be used in a very interesting way. For example, to create a hanging container for flowers. If there are several balls, this is even better, since the quantity can completely complement the composition.

Choose a place, say, in a gazebo or near a seating area, hang halves of balls with substrate or quality soil inside, and plant some plants there. These can be house flowers, annuals and perennials, and maybe even strawberries, which will decorate the new container not only with pretty greens, but also with delicious berries.

Anything you can do with your imagination

A scarlet metal chest with yellow flowers suspended from a fence is a bold decision that shows the active nature of the gardener

It may not be a piano in the bushes, but a cello also introduces you to high art

A tin tray filled with varieties of pelargonium with different shades of leaves and bright inflorescences

Not everyone has an old boat lying around in their backyard. But if you have one, you should definitely make an original flower garden.

Plants for alpine slides

Those who take alpine slides seriously will be able to grow something special in their garden. It’s better to start with easy-to-care but beautiful plants like saxifrage or sedum. A flower bed made of stones will decorate a corner of any garden.

We plant flowers and vegetables that are familiar to everyone in pots and containers. Do-it-yourself container garden and vegetable garden

Good afternoon, dear friends, gardeners and gardeners! Welcome to the website of the “Country Stories” channel.

There are many people who have a great desire to grow something with their own hands, but there is no plot where they could do it. However, this is not a reason to deny yourself pleasure, because you can arrange a garden and vegetable garden right on your balcony using containers for planting plants.

1. Do-it-yourself container garden and vegetable garden

Growing flowers and vegetables in containers also makes sense in new areas. If you have virgin land that has not been cultivated for many years, then in the first season you will physically not be able to cover all your areas. You will have to remove the sod or dig up the ground, removing the roots of perennial weeds. In this case, containers will serve you well. They are also good for those places where you need to plant something, but the soil is too dense or rocky, for example, near a fence.

1.1. Productivity.

Of course, yields in soil and containers cannot be compared. In open ground, plants receive more nutrition, spreading their roots wider and deeper. In addition, they are moisturized more evenly.

But with some effort and constant attention, you can grow a good harvest in container culture. Any containers with a volume of more than 10 liters are suitable for growing: buckets, pans, boxes. It is cheap and cheerful to use large plastic bags for construction waste.

1.2. Drainage

Typically, the buckets used are old, so they naturally already have holes in the bottom. If there are no holes, you must make them. This also applies to plastic bags. Without drainage holes, water will stagnate and the roots will rot.

1.3. Watering.

When growing vegetables in containers, you cannot do without watering. The larger the plant, the more leaf mass it has, the more abundantly and often it will have to be watered. In order for the soil to dry out less in the top layer, it is good to mulch it with any organic matter: sawdust, hay, salt, etc.

1.4. The soil.

You need to understand that the soil will compact in a small volume when watering. Therefore, the soil must be loose: contain a lot of peat and sand. At the same time, it must be nutritious, because at the roots the volume of nutrients is limited by the size of the container. The best soil for containers can be considered a mixture of garden soil, humus, peat and sand in equal proportions. However, there will still be a shortage of food. Therefore, plants in containers need to be fed more often than usual.

1.5. Compost.

If the growing containers are very large, you can fill the lower part with any organic residues: last year’s leaves, dry grass, etc., and pour a layer of nutritious soil on top. Over the summer, the organic matter will rot and provide additional nutrition to the plants.

2. What flowers should you plant in your container garden?

2.1 Zinnia.

Both dwarf and tall zinnias can be used for growing in pots. These flowers grow well in small containers and tolerate insufficient watering. Zinnia is quite drought-resistant, so in containers it suffers much less from fungal diseases.

https://vk.com/photo-159774511_457247336
If in open ground zinnia rarely survives to frost, dying from all kinds of infections, then in containers it can bloom until the coldest weather.

2.2. Sweet pea.

As a rule, this plant blooms in containers much earlier than in open ground.
https://vk.com/photo-159774511_457247337
Sweet peas bloom brightly, attracting attention. You need to be careful with this plant. He will not put up with drought. As soon as the plant dries out, it will die immediately.

2.3. Morning glory.

This is a rather capricious plant that requires frequent watering.
Morning glory planted in a container grows well. https://vk.com/photo-159774511_457247338
The climbing plant will look great both as part of compositions and separately. There are many varieties of morning glory. Its flowers can be painted in the most unprecedented colors and shades.

2.4. Aster.

If there are many problems with growing asters in the garden, then plants planted in a container will certainly delight the gardener with beautiful and incredibly lush flowering.
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Asters in a container require minimal care, the main thing is not to forget to water them. Beautiful flowers in a pot will take their rightful place in a small improvised garden. For growing in containers, preference should be given to dwarf varieties.

2.5. Marigold.

For growing in containers, it is advisable to choose short marigolds, but everything will depend on the size of the container.
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Marigolds will delight you with friendly and abundant flowering that continues throughout the summer.

2.6. Viola.

Low plants with large, colorful flowers look stunning in containers.
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You can create all kinds of multi-level compositions from them.

This is not a complete list of flowers that can grow and bloom beautifully right in pots. The main thing in gardening is to take the first step, and then all that remains is to try and experiment.

3. Subtleties of growing vegetables and herbs in containers

If you don’t have a summer cottage yet, and the urge to dig in the ground has already awakened, you can try planting your own mini-garden in containers. Of course, for this you will need a sunny balcony or terrace.

3.1. Pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers

You can grow many crops in a container. Pumpkin plants thrive in limited quantities. One seed or one plant seedling is planted in one container

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Of course, for pumpkin it is worth taking a larger volume, 20 liters. And it is better to plant varieties with medium-sized fruits and leaves. Zucchini grows well in pots. Their root system is smaller than that of a pumpkin; a 10-liter bucket is enough for them.

Cucumbers also bear fruit well in containers. But it is better to choose small-fruited varieties: Smiley, Alyonushka. The Chinese series of long-fruited cucumber varieties are genetically adapted to survive in the most difficult conditions; they can also grow in a limited volume.

3.2. Peppers, tomatoes, potatoes

Nightshades grow and ripen well in containers. Of course, you will need good food and a sunny place protected from the wind. The root system of peppers is quite modest, but that of tomatoes is more serious. For tomatoes, it is better to choose buckets without a bottom so that they can go deeper into the ground when they have mastered the entire volume of the bucket.

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You can grow special varieties of peppers and tomatoes that are designed for growing in pots. In such plants, the size of the bush is more compact and the fruits are smaller. But you can try to plant ordinary varieties of tomatoes by installing a support in a container or placing them against a supporting wall.

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Growing potatoes in a container is as easy as two. The main thing is that the soil is loose and breathable. And harvesting is generally a pleasure. You simply tip the container over and there you have it, new potatoes. No need to dig and bend your back.

3.3. Beets, carrots

Beets do better in containers than carrots. It does not have such a large root system, and the root itself comes to the surface. And carrots form in the ground, the roots go very deep.

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But young carrots can be grown in a tall bucket or large pot. The main thing is to choose early varieties with short roots and do not forget to water. Carrots need a lot of moisture if they are grown in a confined space.

3.4. Peas, beans, beans

Legumes grow well in containers, buckets and even small pots. Green peas can even be grown on a windowsill in a 2 liter pot. Well, you can sow several seeds in a large bucket. The roots of legumes are very small; they have enough space. These are undemanding crops that will delight you with the harvest.

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Climbing beans can be sown in bags placed near the fence along which they will climb.

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This way you will not only reap a good harvest, but also create a hedge.

3.5. Leeks, garlic

Leek seedlings can be planted in a large pot, and in the fall you can simply shake out the ripe, juicy stems. The roots of leeks form a “beard” without going to great depths.

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Garlic has the same root system. Spring garlic, which is planted in the spring, can also be planted in a box or bucket.

3.6. Kale, chard, lettuce, spinach

Leafy vegetables grow well in limited soil. Baby lettuce mixtures are generally designed to be grown in boxes. But ordinary leaf lettuce with large leaves will grow well in a bucket or large box. This applies to spinach and any other greens: watercress, arugula, etc.

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Chard, which produces large, juicy leaves, can also be grown in a pot. This plant is not only tasty, but also very decorative. You can sow several varieties with petioles of red, yellow and white.

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White cabbage cannot be grown in a container. But decorative or kale cabbage is fine. It is edible, but so beautiful that you can’t even bother to cut it for food. But you can break off a few lower leaves so that it continues to grow.

Thank you for your interest in my article.

BAG IN THE HOLE

Any containers can be used as containers, except those that contained toxic substances.

These can be metal or plastic buckets, bottles, basins, barrels, tubs. But the simplest option is large plastic bags. For strength, place them one inside the other and make drainage holes.

Place a layer of small pebbles or broken slate at the bottom. Then fill to the top with loose, fertile soil. Both store-bought and garden-made ones, seasoned with humus (3:1), mineral fertilizer (1 tbsp azofoska per 10 liters of soil mixture) and dolomite flour (2 tbsp per bucket) or ash (0.5 tbsp.) are suitable. per 10 liters of soil).

If soil pests infest a metal or wooden container or the plants become sick, in the fall the soil will have to be poured out and the container itself washed with a disinfectant solution or burned with a burner. Next year the container can be used again for planting.

OUR HELP

You can also grow perennial vegetables in old buckets and tubs, but you shouldn’t leave them without special shelter for the winter. If there is a cellar or basement, then the plants can be moved there for wintering.

Plaster plant pots

It’s easy to make an unusually shaped flower pot with your own hands from plaster. It is easy to work with, pliable and cheap material. To its advantages it is necessary to add a short period of complete drying.

To create a flowerpot you will need:

• dry gypsum mixture;
• strips of fabric (up to 10 cm wide);
• wire;
• bucket or other form;
• dye;
• varnish

First of all, you need to make a wire frame. The easiest way is to braid it into a bucket of suitable capacity. If desired, it is not difficult to make the base of an original shape.

Then you will need to dilute the gypsum mixture with water until it becomes thick sour cream. Strips of fabric are alternately placed in the resulting composition, after which they are wound on a wire frame. To ensure the strength of the future product, the strips are wound overlapping. Several layers will be required.

The remaining gypsum mixture is evenly distributed on the surface of the workpiece. It will take about a day to dry completely.

The dried workpiece is decorated at your discretion. It is easy to paint the pots with acrylic paint, decorate them with pebbles, beads, pieces of ceramic tiles, and other original elements.

The final touch is to coat the product with colorless varnish as a protective layer. It’s easy to make flower pots from plaster in the form of stylized antique vases or elegant swans.

Flower beds in old drawers, cabinets, plumbing fixtures

Cabinets like flowerbeds, a bathtub filled with flowers are original ideas that bring a lot of ingenuity and color variety to the garden. Various decorative items will help complement the design:

• small stones collected from the site;
• decorative figures;
• umbrellas;
• cute trinkets that have nowhere to store and would be a shame to throw away.