Bench Planter

One of my first projects was adding gravel to the breeze way so it would look better, I wouldn't have to cut the grass there, and to make my little home that much bigger. When you have a small area you make all of it work for you.

I got a old bench for free from Craigslist. I had to go to Brentwood and get it, but it was free. It is a little used and run down but it still holds people. So I kept the old wood on it so it had a rustic look.

Bench


Added some 4x4 post to give the bench a little height. I put the bench right where the living room window was. Adding the 4x4 gave it enough height that you can watch tv outside over the couch. That will be good during football season.


I moved all the gravel out of the way and dug down a couple of inches. I then added some dirt from the load of dirt I got a little while ago. Then I added 3 lily hostas since the bench wont allow a lot of sunlight. I then added some potting soil so they should do pretty good.

Bushes added to side of house

The side of the house just looked a little boring. I had thought about adding some bushes, but I wasn't sure. Then while I was at Lowes I saw they had some bushes on sale, real cheap. Only $1 each so I figured if they died, it was only $7 and I would get to see how that area looked with bushes.


Plain and simple before


I started this project at about 9pm, so my neighbors might not have liked I was tilling up the yard when it was dark. I used my trucks lights to give me light.


I added 7 of these plants. They get about 4ft x 4ft and I spaced them about 2.5ft away from each other. They should fill into each other as they grow and should look good once they hit their full size. They also turn green, to yellow in fall, and red during the winter so it should give it a 3 color show. They also weren't doing well, that's why they were $1.


As you can see they are already getting greener and doing better after I got them.


I added some cedar mulch, redish color mulch, to see how the red mulch would look, and it was on sale. All the other areas have black natural mulch.


After. I think once they fill into each other they will look good

4 Smaller Wooden Boxes

I still had numerous wood left from the out decking I got, thanks again Christian. I made 4 smaller wooden planters that I put some small bushes in, Azaleas to be in fact. They are small bushes that bloom in the spring time and have some nice red flowers. They were added to be in front of the trailers, again draw your eye to the plants and not the trailers. Think or urban camo, haha. These came out ok, not my best work. That's what happens when you need to finish a project and tired.

Wood before, just normal.


I made 4 small wooden planters, only 3 shown


Small planter inside



The past planters I made I put a trash bag liner in them to try and keep water and the wet soil from getting to the wood. Just something to help them last longer. This one I got a new idea. I had just put in a couple of bushes, post about it in a moment, and the plastic pots they came in were just about the right size.


So with my handy creative mind I decided to use them. I guess that is from watching Junk Raiders on ION tv. Since it was round and the planters were square, I did the impossible. I made the round peg go into the square spot, and that kids toy said you couldn't. With a hammer it can be done easily.


With their new plants and in place.