Plant Pots from Packaging – how we did it

I recently blogged about some of the brilliant ways people are making plant pots from packaging. As part of this I featured some pots which Tammy Watkins has made. She has repurposed milk containers and soft drinks bottles to make very decorative plant holders for her trellis.

As I was writing the blog on Saturday, the weather took a turn for the worse. Stuck in on a grey day, two of my kids (Liza and Henry) and I decided to follow Tammy’s lead and create some of our own plant pots from packaging. So as a mini extra blog this week I thought I’d share how we got on.

Plant Pots from Packaging – Preparation

• We used milk containers, a dog food can, sweetcorn cans, a small icecream tub, a huge peanut butter tub and old Ribena bottles.
• The packs had their labels removed. We washed them and then trimmed the milk containers and bottle to shape.

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• We used acryllic paints to put a strong base colour on all of the plastic containers.
• Once the base colour was dry we painted patterns on them.

Plant Pots Made from Packaging – The Designs

• Henry did a geometric collage effect on one milk container. He masked-off areas of the container, and painted different colours in the gaps. Then black lines were added where the masking tape had been.
• For another he did a very lovely picture of a sun setting over the sea.
• Liza opted for lots of big, bold hearts on her old peanut butter pot.

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My Big Mistake!

I had the bright idea of doing stars on my milk container. What a mistake! The first star was a mess. The lines weren’t sharp and straight enough. So I had to wait for the ‘star’ to dry, paint over it with the base colour (not easy) and start again! Lesson being don’t attempt a shape that relies on a really sharp line unless you have a fantastic stencil and a very steady hand. (I had neither). For my second attempt I painted a little flower on my milk container. That was so much easier!

Though, to be honest, by this time it was late and we were watching a pitch battle on Game of Thrones. So I’m amazed something as gentle as a flower ended up on the container!

Keeping it Simple

• We decided to keep the metal tins plain. We felt they’d look good that way. So we simply varnished them with two coats of a clear lacquer. This is to prevent them rusting.
• The cut down ribena bottles were painted with contrasting colours.
• The icecream container we kept simple. It had a decorative rim which we just painted in a contrasting colour.
• We left everything to dry over night, ready for hanging and planting the next day.
• Note – we thought about varnishing the painted pots to make them more weatherproof, but our lacquer started taking the paint off! So don’t do that unless you know your varnish is compatible with acryllic paints!!

The Cans

The plain tin pots are being used on the patio – but I think they’d equally look very effective as a group indoors. On relfection, the sweetcorn tins we used are very small, so I’d probably confine myself to larger dog food/baked bean size cans next time.

Hanging the Painted Containers

The painted containers were for our bottom shed wall. It already looks quite ‘artisan’ and I thought the jazzy plant pots from packaging would work well there.

We decided to hang them up first and then fill them. This was definitely the best way to do it.

Mr F-W drilled holes in the bottom of the containers for drainage, he then screwed them to the shed wall. He placed the screw quite low down and used a washer to prevent the containers from splitting.

I was worried that once they were filled with soil the containers would start to slip or tear with the weight of the compost, but not at all.

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The Planting

For the planting we went for some every day simple bedding plants.

I anticipate having to ‘move the plants on’ and refill the containers every season, as the pots are quite small. So I also selected some plants which we will be able to reuse elsewhere in the garden namely:

• Armeria Ballerina Red
• Viola Rebecca
• Helianthemum Golden Queen
• Campanula Ambella

Plant Pots From Packaging – a triumph!

The end result is that our scruffy old shed, is looking much prettier, and some old packaging has had a new lease of life. So why don’t you have a go at making plant pots from packaging!

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FYI..four days and a good couple of rainstorms later and the paint and plants are still picture perfect.