buttercrunch lettuce and marigolds in wooden wine box, originally uploaded by Crystalyn Kae.
My new favorite thing is growing my own lettuce. For some reason when I buy lettuce, it goes bad in the fridge before I eat it all – but growing it myself lets me harvest as needed . .and it tastes truly delicious. (Who knew?)
Anyway, I got this genius container lettuce idea from the book: ‘Garden Anywhere’ by Alys Fowler. I have lots of wine crates left over from a booth display so I kidnapped a few.
How to build a wine crate garden planter:
- Ask your local wine shop if they have bordeaux wine boxes. . they'll usually give them to you for free.
- Add additional screws to secure the sides of the box together, otherwise with exposure to moisture and being filled with heavy rocks and soil, it may begin to burst at the seams (like mine do in the photo!)
- Drill a few 1/8" holes in the bottom for drainage
- Weatherproof with oil: The book suggests to treat the boxes with danish oil, but I have a big Costco jug of expired olive oil – so I just brushed it on with a coarse-bristled brush, giving it two coats to absorb into the wood.
- Line the box with 1" of rocks or small pebbles to help drainage
- Fill with potting soil.
- If you have plant feet, or 4 equally-sized rocks you can elevate your box a bit above ground it will help with drainage and not leave algae marks on your patio /decking.
- plant with vegetables as desired
- if you want to start gardening on the cheap - check out my list of kitchen scraps you probably have at home that you can re-plant outside!
Leave a comment