photography: Tom McWilliam
Take a galvanized washtub and create your very own water garden. Complete with lily pads, it resembles a miniature pond. |
If one person's trash is another's treasure, can't one person's trash be another's container garden? Before you scour garden shops for antique metal pots, take another look at the galvanized garbage cans that used to hold court in the back alley before the days of plastic bins. Imagine them as a neo-chic addition to your cottage garden: shiny silver metal waste cans, buckets, troughs, and washtubs, all brimming with flowers, herbs, and vegetables—anything your green thumb desires.
photography: Tom McWilliam
Mix new and old when using galvanized metal—there are no rules. This edible garden of chives, lettuces, nasturtiums, tomatoes, and peas—in addition to zinnias—makes the most of its casual, eclectic style. |
One of the biggest advantages about repurposing galvanized metal cans is the incredible variety to work with, right at your local home and garden center. Our old friend the backyard trash can is just the beginning—bins come shorter, fatter, with or without the standard corrugation, and not just round but oval, square, and rectangular. And you aren't limited to what is obviously a container: Drainpipes, roofing material, metal flashing—utilize them all to create or customize existing galvanized containers. Pop a bucket on top of an old air-conditioning vent and you've got yourself an urn. Washtubs make ideal water gardens, being already watertight. You could rig up a recirculating pump and have a nice splashy fountain, or plant marsh grasses, cattails, or lotus and let their shape, texture, and color be your focal point.
photography: Tom McWilliam
Stylist James Cramer’s own yard is accented by galvanized benches and a tablescape of small buckets. |
photography: Tom McWilliam
A pineapple lily ([I "Eucomis"]) in a creatively constructed urn is a striking focal point for this texturally diverse planting. |
Something else you'll love about galvanized gardening is that these cans are significantly lighter than almost any other container. That's a real plus if you, like many of us garden putterers, are forever changing the configuration of your pots.
Cottage garden favorites seem most at home in these gentrified dustbins. Think of planting marigolds and sunflowers, plus aromatic herbs and tasty vegetables here—and don't discriminate against vines! Scarlet runner beans will eagerly clamber up a rustic trellis placed inside the container, as will snap peas, cucumbers, clematis, and more. Who knew the trashy can at the bottom of your driveway could give your cottage such curb appeal. FRESH IDEA If you garden on a roof, deck, or balcony, the weight of your
planted and watered containers
can severely limit the size of your garden. For this reason, many
people fill the bottom half of their large containers with old foam
packing peanuts before planting. Like pebbles, they help with drainage, but unlike pebbles, they don't weigh a ton. Find it Fast Galvanized cans and pails; Budgetpackaging.com
Galvanized tubs; Red Hill General Store
Galvanized Bench; Arnhold Metal Designs |
