Interesting planters for your garden

The Times of India

Nurture your green space creatively with unique containers.Having a garden once meant large open spaces in the front or backyard of bungalows, or on terraces of independent row houses.

Nurture your green space creatively with unique containers.
Having a garden once meant large open spaces in the front or backyard of bungalows, or on terraces of independent row houses.
However, now, with apartments being the order of the day, gardens are restricted to balconies, corners and shelves inside apartments. Bonsai may seem an ideal option, but it's no fun to restrict anything living, including plants. There's no need to be discouraged though as we give you simple ideas that you could use to make your little space green in a creative manner.
Tin cans
Today, with consumerism on the rise, tin containers have made their way into homes, be it in the form of tea containers or aerated drink cans. However, once empty, despite being sturdy, these cans end up in the trash. Instead of throwing these away, you could use them in your garden. Use a blade to cut the top off for easy planting. Then, paint the can in colours of your choice. Once the paint dries, you can plant herbs such as parsley, basil, rosemary and mint, among others, and probably even paint the name of the herb on the can.
Woks and bowls
Most kitchenware is suitable to pot plants, however, the best looking container among them has to be the wok. You could use your old woks as pots and hang them in your balcony. Woks have handles, which allows you to tie a rope on either side. This way, you can hang them easily on a railing or hook. You could also turn your larger woks into fish bowls and grow water-friendly plants, such as money plant.
Mugs
Have too many mugs and cups at home and are clueless about what to do with them?
Just use them as pots for your plants. Since mugs, simply put, are smaller containers, you can plant different kinds of cacti in them. This way, they will be easy to maintain and can be kept indoors. And if you are struggling with an abundance of smaller tea cups, you could use them as pots too. Plant herbs in them and place them on your kitchen window sill. This way, you could use home-grown herbs in your food preparations.
Tyres
If you want to be a little more creative, use an old car tyre as a pot. If you don't like the black rubber container in your garden, just paint the tyre to make it look colourful. You could either place the tyre flat on the ground over a base of your choice, or hang it off the roof. If you place it horizontally, the tyre can accommodate either many little plants or a big one. However, if you choose to hang it on the wall or off the roof, only a portion of the tyre will serve as the pot. In case you wish to hang it, opt for flowering plants or asparagus ferns.
Boxes
Shoe boxes, take-away boxes, jute boxes, chocolate tin boxes and gift boxes are generally available at home. Use these as pots and place them in your balcony. You could paint them in the colours of your choice. Since most of the other containers are best suited for leafy plants, you could use boxes for flowering ones. The drawback, though, is that boxes are best utilized when they are kept in balconies. They don't look good indoors.
Bottles
No matter how much you try, it is almost impossible to avoid accumulating bottles. A nice way to put them to use is by turning them into pots. While wide-mouthed glass bottles make for pretty plant holders, plastic ones are equally good. Place the plastic bottle horizontally and cut out a small rectangular area to allow your plant to grow. Then, tie the ends of your bottle with a rope and hang it from your balcony railing. You could also slice the base of the bottles, hang them upside down and use them as pots.

Keywords: planters for your garden