Create a Flower Pot from a Log

Kellie will not be with us for the next two Fridays. She is just a little busy with a trip to Ethiopia and the adoption of two children. Read about their adventures at  The Brown's Journey to Africa. While she is gone I thought I'd share some older favorites from Stop the Ride. 

It is funny when ideas strike you. I get some of my best ideas while doing simple repetitive tasks, like washing dishes or hanging clothes on the line. This particular idea came when I was stacking a wood pile. Not only was it a mindless task that gave me the time to think about other things, I was inspired by the one of the objects of the task.

When we moved here trees had to be cleared for the houses and for the electric lines. Now, we have a lot of cut wood around. Much of it is nice fire wood, but some of the logs are rotten and look like this.



As I was stacking the nice wood, and debating throwing the bad wood on the camp fire pile, I had my idea. Wouldn't these rotten pieces of wood make lovely planters for the porch? Today I found out.

I chose three rotten logs that would sit well, and that were interesting. One of them was rotted through all the way, one almost all the way, and the other about half way. For the first two, I wadded up some plastic grocery bags as a filler. The idea is to make the pot lighter, create drainage and use less soil. I've read about people using water bottles as filler. I didn't have any. Since I haven't learned to do all the neat things Cindy does with plastic bags, I figured this was a pretty good use for them.

Then I added a few scoops of dirt. (My scoop was an old sour cream container.) Then added the plants. I splurged on $3 of annuals at the store the other day. In the pot I put two New Guinea Inpatients, an alyssum, and a wave petunia. Then I added a couple more scoops of dirt around the plants, and watered.



I must say I was very happy with the result, and even happier that each of these only cost me a dollar (for the flowers) and some change (for the potting soil.)



How's that for a frugal flower pot? Now, if I'd just started the flowers from seed, and had compost ready for soil, these lovelies would have practically been free! Maybe next year! :)