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Jun 6, 2013

rustic container gardening


One of my favorite things about summer is planting annuals. I have been planting them around the farm since I met my husband 5 years ago. I don't think he was very happy the first summer annuals made their debut at his house. I was not down there much during the week as I lived with my parents and I made him water them every night. He did not have it rough at all compared to now. I think I had maybe 3 terracotta pots on his porch and possibly a hang basket on the corner. Now, watering is a chore. It's so worth it though. I try to get up early and water all my flowers in containers before work if it's going to be a hot day and I will water them again when I get off work. It's best to do it first thing before you do anything else or there may be a risk of putting it off. I can always tell when we skip a day. Sometimes you just get plain busy.


I absolutely love old barrels as planters. There's just something about them. It's almost like the two were meant for each other.



These are probably one of my most favorite annual. They are a newer hybrid from Proven Winners in the Supertunia line. Even though I live in the middle of no where, I actually live next to a green house. It's ran by an old order Mennonite family. I make several stops there every spring. You walk in and the place is just filled with beautiful full hanging baskets for a very reasonable price. These Supertunia's are actually still in their original basket. I take the hangers off and set the plastic containers on the barrels. You can't see the container because these flowers just grow absolutely crazy. I actually had to trim them back several times last summer. This is our second summer with them. I like leaving them in the original basket because it helps keep their shape and raises them up slightly. These flowers definitely need raised because they grow and grow and grow and it's almost like they never stop growing. The only down side, they are extremely sticky and if you attempt to move them, they break easily. They seem to weather well, however.



This is my absolute most favorite planter. It's actually an old copper boiler that was in pretty bad shape that I found in my grandpa's barn. The other side is extremely beaten in and the inside is slightly rotting out. I keep it under the porch so it doesn't weather. I wanted to feature it in the house but I just felt like it would be better outside.



This year I have some begonias and potato vine inside the boiler. I love the contrast of the three colors. Last year I had some gerber daisies in this planter. Those were super fun.


The only thing I don't like about growing gerber daisies is that there can be a long period of time before you see any flowers and their leaves are not the prettiest. This is actually my favorite cut flower. I wanted to try something different in my copper boiler this year. I love what I did but I think I miss my daisies already!


Another one of my favorite containers is my little chicken feeders. These came out of my dad's chicken coop. I have three of them with violas in them. I paired this one with a tractor seat from my dad's shed he is tearing down and an oil can from the corn crib we tore down where our house now sits. I love putting items in my landscaping that tell a story and have history. I've used the oil can as a planter for the last several summers but nothing ever seems to thrive in it. I don't know if it's too small or just retains way too much moisture. I drill holes in most of my containers but sometimes it's not enough. It's a game of trial and error! I decided to leave it empty this year.


This is something new I am trying this year. I actually saw this executed on Pinterest but I also had a similar idea in my head. I have a feeling this is not going to be thunderstorm friendly. I will keep you posted on that!


This container is actually a chicken waterer with the top removed. This is an idea I've been wanting to try and is not executed very well. I actually had these flowers/vinca in the old wash tub but it was way too heavy so they need reshaped. The chicken feeder came from my dad's chicken coop.


Yeah, we definitely need to work on that one. It's hard to reshape some plants without breaking off their stems, though.

And those chairs? Ah yes. Those chairs. In love. They are actually the real deal. My mother in law got her hands on her great grandpa's rusty old chairs and had them sand blasted and painted for our birthday present last year. Definitely one of the coolest gifts I have ever received. The barrel actually came from my parent's house. I think my mom had flowers in them when they first got married. I vaguely remember them from being a kid. They were put into storage and I dug them out for my wedding then they made the big move down here.


The sun is starting to set later and later. Tonight it was well after nine when it started going down. I find myself going to bed much later and later. It's so hard to go to bed early when it's light out and there is so much to do and enjoy. The weather has been in the 70s and well, I could take that all year round. I don't like it above 80 and below 65. This has been absolutely perfect. I am hoping for a colder summer after last year. Last year was miserable.

Stay tuned for more annuals and rustic container gardening!


We don't want to wear my husband out too much.

Don't let him fool you, though. I do most of the landscaping. ;)

2 comments:

  1. Christine and FamilyJune 6, 2013 at 10:48 PM

    Can't wait to see it all in person! We are all getting excited for our big trip, especially the kiddos! See you...and your flowers...soon! Love ya!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christine from Little Brags stopping by to see your old boiler planter...love it and all the other cool ideas as well....pinning !!!! Will follow you along!

    ReplyDelete

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