BIG Planter Water Saucers from Trash Can Lids

We make BIG planters for our yard out of plastic nursery tree pots 

covered with pallet boards. This pair are the 15 gallon size. 

The below pic shows a 25 gallon planter in the back and a 15 gallon planter in the front. 

I gave them a bit of house paint for color but let the rough wood grain show through.

But I couldn't find any plant saucers big enough to put under them until I saw

 two trash can lids in the garden shed. 

Yes folks, our garden shed holds lots of random stuff like that. 

Doesn't yours?

The trash can lids are the perfect size for these big 15 gallon planters 

and even bigger ones. I am so jazzed!

I filled them with rubber tire mulch to disguise their true origin, 

and they work like a charm!

Now I can water until I see the lids start to fill. No more over or underwatering, EVER!

It is an extremely cheap solution  and I am calling it a win win.

DIY Vinca Vine Wreath

As I was trimming the runaway vinca vines from my planters I looked at

 the handful of  cuttings and thought they'd make a great wreath.

I did a bit of curling and wrapping and added a few bits of florist wire 

and I soon had a pretty green vinca wreath.

But you know and I know that fresh and pretty green wreaths won't last very long. 

I set it aside to dry for a few weeks.

When it was fully dry and brown and crinkly and NOT green anymore,

 I assessed what I would do with it. 

Hmmmm. 

Spray paint couldn't do any harm and it might make it look pretty good.

Where's that can of Rustoleum Lagoon?

Oooh aaah!

Not brown anymore! Now it's pretty and perfect for this little fence in my garden.

I love how it looks against all that rough wood grain.

As you can see I didn't paint it thoroughly, just gave it a few swipes of color.

I'm going to leave it out there over the winter and see how it does. 

Even if it doesn't last it's a pretty and eye catching bit of art in my yard

 that was simple to make and didn't cost a dime.

You can bet I'll be saving ALL my vine clippings from now on. 

I foresee lots of pretty little wreaths in my gardening future!

Zero Dollars To Make a New Fountain For Our Deck!

We've always had a fountain on our deck, not only for the beauty and the 

sounds of it, but for the grand babies to play in.

               

But this little fountain is past its prime.

We took it apart to see what we could salvage and found the pump is in perfect working order.

 All we needed were containers and a platform for a 

new little fountain.....hmmm.

Time to check the garden shed for what we already have.

I bought these matching plastic planters because they looked like wood. 

They don't have any pre drilled drain holes so they seem exactly what we need. 

We stacked them on top of one of my five gallon bucket tables 

that has a  microwave dish top (covered with pretty pebbles stuck on with GE Silicone II)

 It's a perfect solution!

 The Welding Man drilled the overflow hole and added a short pipe fitting. 

We added water, plugged in the pump...

and VOILA!

I dug up clumps of creeping jenny from the yard and planted them in little pots. 

We wired them to the fountain  and would you look at that..

an almost instant pretty deck fountain that did not cost us a dime!

We'll have to drain it for winter, of course. 

But these plastic tubs won't spring a leak like the wooden buckets did

 and we hope they'll last for years. 

This is my favorite kind of project...a bit of finagling and recycling what

 we already have to make something brand "new."

I call that a win win!