Friday, April 13, 2012

DIY: Mail Box Succulent Garden

My Daddy comes up with some of the neatest planter box ideas ever. Since it's still so cold out here, we've really been focusing and filling up our garden with succulents. They're very pretty, colorful, and eye catching, and you can fit a whole bunch of them, in tiny places.

One of my Dad's latest projects was making an old mail box into a planter. This project was relatively easy for him, since he's really good with power tools, so if you are too, this is a cute way to fill up space in your back yard.

Most of the things that we needed for this project we had laying around. Nothing has to be too precise, because it all depends upon the actual mail box that you select, and how you want to present it. We just found a thick wooden plank, that had been sitting around for about a year, waiting to be chopped into fire wood. The base was kind of in the same boat, but my daddy just painted it white. The mail box, he found either at a garage sale, or at the flea market.

What You'll Need

An old mail box
A screw drill (I'm not sure what it's called, I'm not much of a handy man, so forgive me)
White Paint
Soil
Succulents
A long thick slab of wood
A smaller, but thick base

This project is fairly easy, if you've already got things lying around like I did. To secure everything, we just drilled screws into the mail box. We did four going down each side, just to make it extra secure. Then we did the same to the plank and base.

When everything was secured, we painted the base for some contrast and let it dry, before filling our mail box with soil.

Then we arranged our succulents the way that we wanted, and packed them in as well.

Now our planter sits right on the outside of the porch, so it gets plenty of light. These particular plants aren't the kind that can go with no sunlight, so be sure to place them where they get enough in the morning time at the very least.

The planter is a great conversation piece for people who stop in for a visit. So if you make one, be prepared for a whole lot of compliments!


9 comments:

  1. How clever!! Love this project {and the fact you used plants that are harder to kill than most...I'm not exactly a green thumb lol}

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    1. Thanks! I don't have much of a green thumb either, but my Dad manages to somehow keep everything green in our backyard!

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  2. Oh wow, what a great idea! And OH my Lord that mac and cheese below stopped my heart for a second! YUM

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  3. What an original idea!

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  4. That's too cool! Sadly, there's a huge lack of old-fashioned mailboxes where I live. Mpph. Also, New Mexico weather sucks for trying to grow anything green.

    On the other hand, I'm dying over how cute your blog layout is. ADORE!

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    1. Oh no. =[ Well, maybe at thrift stores... hmm... And thank you.

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  5. I am obsessed with succulents! love.

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  6. that is so cute. I have a few succulents growing right now. I never know how easy that wear to take care of.

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