Good planters cost too much at garden centres. The thirty ideas below are under $10 apiece (most under $5), and fifteen are effectively free from things you'd otherwise discard.
Free / repurposed (10)
- Old rubber boots
- Tin cans (punch drainage)
- Chipped teapots and teacups
- Plastic milk jugs (cut at the shoulder)
- Wooden crates
- Broken clay pots (layered for a fairy garden)
- Colander baskets
- Old watering cans
- Laundry baskets (liner + drainage)
- Vintage suitcases (open, lined with plastic)
Under $5 (10)
- Terracotta pots (plain, painted at home)
- Plastic buckets
- Paper milk cartons (biodegradable seed starters)
- Concrete-poured from molds
- Cardboard tubes for seedlings
- Mason jars for herbs (with layered gravel)
- Thrift-store ceramics
- PVC pipe sections
- Cinder blocks (stood on edge)
- Plastic drink bottles cut and inverted
Under $10 (10)
- Fabric grow bags (better than plastic for root health)
- Wooden pallets (vertical planter)
- Galvanised buckets
- Large fabric bags with handles
- Old wheelbarrow
- Wine barrel halves (secondhand)
- Tires painted bright
- Wooden window boxes
- Self-watering sub-irrigated planters (DIY from two buckets)
- Hanging baskets made from coconut fibre lined baskets
Practical rules
Any container works if you can drill drainage holes and it's non-toxic. Avoid painted objects unless paint is food-safe (for edibles) or non-toxic (for flowers). Lighter-colour pots heat up less in full sun — important for root health in summer.
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