We were recently given a blue barrel that has a leak and is no longer able to store water in it.
A smart thing to do is to recycle it. We could forward it to a plastic recycle center or we could turn it into something useful and give a second life to our blue friend.
The first thing that came to our mind was to cut the barrel in half and make two big raised beds or planters. These big containers could be used to grow vegetables, herbs, flowers… Project thought, project started…
It was very simple to do, just follow these steps and do it yourself. If you want a barrel, look into a construction area nearby, there migth be some there as waste.
1. Lay the barrel and mark the middle of it. In this case we want to get two similar planters, but you can make them different in heigth and combine them to create two layers of interest.
2. Mark several dots around the barrel with your measure
3. Take a ruler and connect the dots so you have a straight line around the barrel where you will cut.
4. With a drill, make a hole in the line you just marked. You will use this hole to insert the electric saw so you may need to do a second hole over the first to open the space for the saw.
5. Now is time to cut it. Using an electric saw, cut it slowly along the line.
6. In the end, you will have two similar pieces. Ok ok, the one that is open needs to be closed with the black lid.
7. One of the most important things when growing plants in containers is to guarantee that they have plenty of drainage holes. Using the drill, make several holes in the bottom of the barrel and in the lid.
8. You can paint or decorate the planters to give them more personality and match your garden theme. For us, they will be used right as they are because the dahlias we started earlier need to be planted now. We will paint them later, probably.
