Posted in Projects to Make, Garden Ideas |
Planting Pots Gone Burlap
April 13th, 2006
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This idea isn’t “mine” originally. I don’t remember where I saw it (if one of my readers has seen this somewhere, feel free to let me know where), but it looked interesting when I saw it, so I wanted to try it. I get to “do” things for other people, and this was a project I wanted to do for a couple in Florida.
They are new to container gardening, and wanted my help with planting ideas. I was also interested in having the “gardens” look great. Perfect setting for this project.
It looked SO easy to me. Buy the burlap, cut it to size, tie it on with a ribbon, fluff it out a bit, fill with dirt and plant seeds. NOT SO! The plastic sides of the pots I was using were very slippery and no amount of tying ribbon tightly was going to keep that burlap up. This wasn’t good news to me.
I knew this burlap was going need some real support, so this is what I did.
1. I cut the burlap to size. I made sure all the pieces were the same size (I was doing six pots). This was easy to do by pulling one thread of the burlap out and cutting along the line left behind (I did two threads per piece - one for the length and one for the width). If you have ever “straightened” material for sewing, I pulled the thread and cut the fabric in the same manner. Save the pulled threads.
2. I tied the burlap up with string. Of course, it didn’t stay, but that was ok. I was fixing that. Even out the burlap all around the pot the way you would when evening out a curtain on a rod. You can’t get this perfect now because the burlap is slippery. That’s ok.
4. Using a large eyed needle, I threaded a burlap thread from the ones I had pulled out when straightening the fabric, through the needle’s eye.
5. I then threaded the needle through one of the holes I had punched in the pots, and, weaving the needle through the burlap over and under the string, I pulled enough burlap thread through to be able to tie the two ends into a bow.
6. I cut off any long ends and did the same thing with all five remaining holes. I found this worked best if I did holes directly across from each other instead of one after another after another. It was in this step I was able to even out the ruffles a good bit.
7. I then trimmed the burlap to an even length all the way around, and the pot was done.
Here’s what they looked like completed, but not yet filled (click on the picture to get a bigger view):
Once I had them done, I scoured their yard for things to use as pot supports. I found these cement column bases, that were just beautiful. I loved how the pots looked on them! (Click on the picture for a bigger view):
I am hoping they send me pictures of these pots when the plants are full and lush. If so, I’ll pass them on so you can see them.
Your Frugal Decorating Diva,
Nancy
