Garden Pot Jazz Up

We've had some old bits of equipment kicking around the garden for a while now which I though I could inject a new lease of life into and gain some free plant pots in the process.

First of all we have the cheap wheelbarrow we purchased from Bunnings (my least favourite hardware shop) which feel apart (quite literally) a few months later.

Broken wheelbarrow

Then we had an old white enamel cylinder thing that was here when we bought the house, completely ugly but with a lick of paint and a bit of TLC an ideal vessel for plants.

Rusty old white pot thing

First step was to give everything a really good clean in preparation for painting. As you can see from the photos it was a mega hot day, so everything dried in minutes which certainly sped up the process.

Next step was to prime the wheel barrow and old pot with metal primer. This dried super quickly so I made sure I did plenty of coats to cover all the rust patches and ensure a smooth finish.

Primer going on

Next step was to apply the top coat, we chose the colour bond 'Monument' colour to tie in with our gutters and woodwork already in the garden. I had also bought a massive tin when doing our gutters a couple of years ago and really wanted to use a bit more of it up!

Super hot day - as you can see from the heat haze

If you are after some more 'wow factor' options, I have seen some really amazing top coat effects using Porter's Paints special finishes range. You can choose from Patina Green, Liquid Copper, Instant Rust, Instant Gold, French Wash and many more - they are really amazing but be warned they are more complicated to apply and expensive.

I put the wheel barrow in position close to the cabin, filled it with potting mix and then popped in some cuttings and annuals. Mum and I had already spent a small fortune buying annuals from the Garden Centre so we had plenty I could pilfer from other pots. Plus there is something very pleasing getting cuttings to strike especially when it hasn't cost a thing.

To protect the new plants from the extreme heat I added lots of sugar cane mulch to the top of the wheelbarrow, in the hope they would get a chance to establish despite the near drought conditions. I made sure to water everything in well and apply a nice seaweed solution to help them along.

Finished wheel barrow in position

I did exactly the same with the white pot, but could add plants that would grow taller as the pot is low to the ground.  I really should have taken the pictures straight away, but I was a bit sunburnt so headed straight to the shade as soon as the pots were done.

Unfortunately this pot obviously gets more sun, so all my petunia and geranium additions withered and died very quickly, sorry this one is looking a bit bare in the photos. The palms at the back are still hanging in there and I'll add some winter colour instead once the temperatures cool down a bit. I've also got a new pink cordylite ready to transplant (a grand saving of $20 thank you very much) which would also look good in this pot.

Round pot in position

All in all, I am really happy with how the pots have turned out, the planting wasn't completely successful but the crazy heat did play a major factor.

The wheelbarrow currently looks amazing and I shall get the round pot sorted out now that we are at long last getting nice heavy rain and bearable temperatures. 

Hope this post has inspired you to re-use something in your own garden.