The DIY container rock garden in a shallow bowl

Because I live in a high mountain desert with hot temps and frequent winds, succulents are my "go to" plants for the hot spots of my yard. Some of my taller succulents are planted directly into the ground while the creeping varieties are planted in an assortment of pots to give them some height.

One of my favorite container styles are the shallow bowls which are great for planting an assortment of succulents. Shallow bowls offer a larger surface for succulents to grow plus provide ample space for decorative touches such as rocks, figurines and more.

I made this container rock garden using a vintage pot found at a junk store and added some chunks of red slate to give it some interest. Plants shown include a Mexican Feather Grass seedling, hens & chicks, and three varieties of sedum. For soil, I used regular potting mix mixed with sand in a 2:1 ratio.

Converting a coffee urn to a planter

Part of the fun in gardening is finding vintage containers to create unusual container gardens. Look at this interesting coffee urn (also known as a samovar) which I recently upcycled into a pot for holding an assortment of succulents.

Here are instructions for making your own raised succulent garden from a coffee urn:

• Unscrew the knob from the lid and remove the screw to create a drainage hole.
• Invert the lid and place inside the samovar.
• Fill with potting mix (mix with some of your own garden soil if planting succulents or herbs)
• Arrange plants as desired. My container is planted with an assortment of hens & chicks and different sedum varieties.
• Top with an assortment of crushed rock.  Add a vintage garden or kitchen tool to add height and interest.

Should I add rocks to pots without drainage holes?

When I first started gardening years ago, adding a layer of rocks to a non-draining pot was conventional wisdom. The idea behind this technique was that the rocks would act as reservoir, storing excess water until the plant drew it up from the roots.

Does this actually work? It's really hard to say. I've tried it both ways and noticed that pots with a two-inch layer of rocks at the base had looser soil around bottom of the roots than pots without rocks. Aside from that, there really wasn't much difference in how well the plant fared.

While I don't add rocks to my container veggies and flowers, I still add them to pots containing succulents. These plants thrive in poor soil and low water, and adding rocks replicates the growing conditions where they do best.

What kind of rocks should be used?  I used everything from crushed lava rock to pebbles and decorative landscape rock inside my planting containers. Broken bits of terra cotta pottery will also work.

Gardening with galvanized steel wash tubs

While it is super easy to convert soft metal containers into planters by punching holes through the bottom, sometimes we don't want to destroy containers that have other uses....such as galvanized wash tubs.

I've done quite a bit of gardening with galvanized steel wash tubs and discovered that without holes, deep rooted veggies (such as tomatoes, cukes and squashes) don't seem to fare as well. The veggies I have had the best success with are shallow rooted spring veggies such as salad greens, bunching onions, radishes, and spinach.

To use your galvanized wash basin for gardening, simply fill it up with high quality potting mix, Gently scatter the seeds, cover with a thin layer of potting mix and then water in. That's all there's to it!

How to turn metal containers into a planter

One of my favorite planters aren't bought from the store but made from vintage metal containers found at my local thrift store salvage yard. Lightweight metal containers such as camping pots, vintage coffee or teapots, storage tins, even galvanized wash basins or watering cans all make terrific planters for flowers, herbs, and succulents.

Converting an old metal pot into a planter is super easy to do. All it takes is a hammer and a good sized nail which is used to pierce drainage holes in the bottom of the container.

For small to mid size containers, I'll punch drainage holes every two inches or so. For large containers (such as galvanized wash basins), the drainage holes are spaced about 6 inches apart.
Once the drainage holes have been punched, the container is flipped over and filled with potting mix and a few plants. Because I live on top of an old river bottom, I'll often add a cobblestone or two to my containers.

Here is an old camping kettle that's found a new life as a container rock garden. This kettle is filled with hens & chicks, along with two varieties of sedum.

An old copper tea pot also works. This vintage kettle has been planted with mint.

"Fake old" tins also make great planters. This 90's era tin contains oregano and crushed lavarock mulch.

Even modern gadgets can be upcycled into an unusual garden pot. I found this aluminum stove-top popcorn popper at a salvage yard. It was the perfect container for two different herb plants.

Creating storage space with upcycled shower racks

While most of my gardening equipment is kept in my greenhouse, I also keep a few things outdoors for convenience....such as plant trays, small hand tools, water cans and even gardening twine. These are all kept organized in old shower racks which I have hanging from the side of my tool shed.

The advantage of using shower racks for vertical storage is that they are small, compact, and designed to handle water. The shower racks shown are ones that I picked up at our local thrift store salvage yard for 50¢ each. Not only is this a handy way to store often-used gardening supplies (or show off cool old gardening tools) they add interest to an otherwise ho-hum building.

Upcycling candle holders into plant holders

The most common wire racks found at thrift stores are candle holders which can often be found for $1 or less. Candle racks are super easy to upcycle into mini plant holders for the small two-inch terracotta pots found at craft stores.

These smaller pots don't hold much soil which is why I use these smaller pots for seedlings or rooting succulents. The succulents shown are both in the sedum family which will eventually cascade over the sides.