First let me tell you about those flower boxes. They are the best thing since sliced bread for putting over a railing. They are adjustable to the width of the railing but the best thing is that they have a leveling piece on the bottom of them that allows them to remain upright... no sagging, no danger they will fall over or off. They also have a reservoir in the bottom of them so that in warm weather your plants won't be suffering from thirst. They are more expensive than most planter boxes but worth every penny. Called "fence and railing planters", they are available from LeeValley.
Recycled Cookie Tin Project
One fine sunny day, in the early days of spring, I was cleaning up and clearing out "stuff" that had been lingering forgotten in my downstairs pantry. I came across some old cookie tins I had been saving for a couple of years. They were the big ones from Costco that had once held some very delicious Christmas cookies. I couldn't remember why I was saving them so they were earmarked for the recycling bin.
As I was about to place them in the bin and send them to recycling heaven, it hit me. Of course, use them to plant flowers in this summer! But boy the first thing they would need would be a paint job and some sprucing up. They were okay as cookie tins but pretty ugly for fleurs!!
Over to the hardware store I went to buy some primer paint and some hot red and yellow spray paint for the second coat. Well it was a bit too nippy outside to do any painting so I had to put the project on hold till it warmed up some outside. But in the meantime...
I went looking for vintage flower seed packet graphics and found a whole collection of Seed Catalogues at the Smithsonian digital collection.
I found a bunch I liked, re-sized them in my graphics program to fit the sides of the cookie tins and printed them off. Because they will be outside all summer, I decided to ModgePodge them with a couple of coats to protect them from inclement weather.
Fast forward to a warm spring day. Out the door into the backyard I went with a big cardboard box, my primer paint and the tins. Put the tins in the box to paint as spray paint goes all over. Even being as careful as I was with both the primer and finish coat of red, I ended up with some rather pretty but unusual colored grass!!
Take your time painting inside and out. Get into all the crevices with the primer. Let it dry thoroughly... best to wait overnight. The next day you can start with the your chosen finish colour for the outside of the tin. You really don't need to do the inside.
Once your tins are thoroughly dry, you can modge podge your graphics to the sides of the tin. Do all four sides as you may be turning the plants around for even blooming. Punch a bunch of holes in the bottom of the tin. Take a kitchen garbage bag and cut it to fit inside the tin, fill it with dirt and then your plants.
I made three of them... two red ones for the bench in my secret garden and one yellow one that sits on the table at our front door...
Happy Gardening,
Sharon
