Many of us wish to celebrate Environment Day by camping outside. Alas, COVID forces us to stay indoors for months. We have ideas to bring nature to you. If you have been trying to plant herbs around your house, but you keep forgetting to purchase a planter, DIY Planter from recyclables materials is fun to do. It gives a home for your plants at home. Plus, it allows you to channel your creative or experimentalist sides.
Most importantly, it keeps non-biodegradable materials out of landfills! It shows Mother Nature that even the pandemic cannot stop us from celebrating her day. Plus, it helps you enjoy working from home exciting, as you track your plants’ growth progress every day!
2 Creative DIY Planters You Can Try at Home
Upside down Cans Planter
Want something uncanny? Experiment with hanging your plants upside down. Find a used can with a plastic lid, a can opener, a drill, coffee filters or landscape fabric, and a preferably thick wire hanger.
Use the can opener to remove the metal bottom and top part of the can.
Drill three holes on the side of the can that is close to the very top of the can. The holes are there to hang your planter to the ceiling, so bear balance in mind when you pierce the openings.
Cut a round shape on your coffee filter/landscape fabric as big as the diameter of your can.
Make a hole in the coffee filters/landscape fabric as big as the diameter of your plant stem to ensure that no dirt gets out when your plants hang.
Make another hole in the plastic lid, slightly larger than the hole on the landscape fabric. The plastic cover would safeguard your coffee filter from spilling all over the floor. However, if you feel it would be too heavy for the lid to handle, feel free to enforce it using duct tape surrounding the area between the bottom of the can and the cap.
Carefully plug your plant into the plastic lid and fabric covering and fill the can with soil.
Fill the soil up to where your drilled holes are and let the medium aerate naturally.
Insert and tie (or if you purchase wire that comes with hooks, latch them to the holes you drilled earlier) your wires securely into the holes. Then, twist them together and form a loop. If you can bend the wires together, form a knot at the end to make it extra secure.
Hang your oxygen-producing artwork to decorate your room! You can also create an upside-down hanging planter from a used plastic bottle.
Vertical Planting with Plastic Bottle and a Pallet
Vertical planting is common for the hydroponic method, but you can do it with soil too. All you need is a few used plastic bottles that you can gather from your neighbors in addition to your own, some nails, and a pallet. After growing the seeds in a small nursery (if you plant green and purple salad) after 15 days, you can move them to the plastic bottles. Another alternative that I prefer is to plant seeds right into the bottle.
Cut approximately 3/5th of your plastic bottles and create a hole on the bottle cap for drainage. If you happen to have a soldering iron at home, I recommend using it to make a hole to quicken the process. Depending on how big your plant is, you can use plastic bottles that fit their sizes. For instance, if you plant some salad leaves, they could grow pretty big. It is safer to use small plastic gallon or 18-liter bottles for water fountains to accommodate their size. If you plan to plant smaller plants like basil or bay, you can use 600 ml plastic bottles.
Use a nail gun (or drill nails) to attach the bottles upside down with the capped part facing downwards and fill it with soil into the pallet. Position nails around ¼ from the bottle cut, near the top, but provide more stability by placing it a little lower. You can fit as many water bottles as you can, following the size of the pallet. Just make sure to give enough space between two plants for them to grow. If you planted the seeds in the bottles from the get-go, you are good to go!
Proceed to carefully move your plants from the nursery into your plastic bottles
Voila! You have your vertical planting that can contain many plants at once. If you plan to put the planters inside, make sure to put the pallet where it gets the most sunlight. You can also purchase some plant lights to ensure their growth. Do not forget to put a few bottom halves of your plastic bottle under each column. This way, we can gather excess water to reuse to water the plants again. Plus, it helps to keep your apartment clean of water drips. If you have a hard time finding a pallet, you can use a few pieces of wood and bamboo woods to build a pallet-like structure.
Plant using yogurt containers
Using old tires to either hang and fill the inner part with some soil that acts as a hanging planter or leave it flat on the ground as a traditional pot
Use see-through mason jar glass as pots to provide sleek-looking decoration for your house or kitchen
Use a burlap sack to plant little trees or bigger plants
Utilizing an old colander as a hanging pot
Try a simple hydroponic project using a used plastic bucket/container
Do not forget to check out to fertilize your plants using organic materials to make them healthy. Combine eggshells and banana peels that contain potassium, calcium, and magnesium to repel pests and nutritious for your plants.
Happy Environment Day, folks! Celebrate it by staying home, plant, and wear your mask when you have to go outside.