Today’s post was written by Chatter.
I was down at Granny’s helping mom and dad work in the garden. Dad was cutting back some limbs and I was carrying them around the house to throw off the bank.
I noticed an old refrigerator crisper drawer beside the back of the porch. I immediately wondered if I could plant something in it.
Last year was the first year I really tried to make a garden on my own. Austin and I were married in March and did our best to grow some things, but we didn’t have our garden areas laid out very well.
Over the winter we planned and built out spaces for garden beds in the yard. This year we’ve been able to plant more and in a much more organized manner.
I asked Granny if I could have the old drawer she said “Sure Doll you can have it and I think there’s a couple more in the basement.”
I ended up with three old drawers from Granny. Dad drilled holes in the bottom of them and I took them home. Austin filled them with soil and I added the flowers.
I think they turned out very pretty and I love knowing I recycled something Granny had saved just in case someone needed it.
Chatter
Last night’s video: Watermelon Hill 8.
I love it! So pretty!!
Nothing like using old stuff like this especially when they have such sentimental value coming from our grandparents. Flowers look great in those drawers.
Hi Chatter, I have an area to plant flowers with an old barbecue, 2 worn out wheelbarrows, a toilet, a washing machine drum, and a few big flower pots. I also have an old RV stove out there and I put pots of flowers on the burners. You really can use just about anything to plant in
I have things growing in my vegetable drawer, but not on purpose—it’s still in the refrigerator. LOL
But seriously, that’s a great reuse/upcycle of something that might have otherwise been thrown away.
Perfect fit!!
oh that made me …thanks
Good thinking young lady!
I absolutely love this idea!! It reminds me of some of the things my sister does! They turned out great!
There is somebody out past Ray Childers Elementary School who has an old rusted out pick truck in their yard using it as a flower pot. I’ll try to link a picture of it from Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7487094,-81.4252106,3a,47.3y,155.56h,88.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAD5OJ_kveuiSPwXL-m5ONw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Let me know if you can see it!
I’ve seen that done with an old manure spreader, Ed.
Ed-I can see it! Thank you 🙂
The crisper drawers from my old refrigerator were clear. For years I used them to put over pots of seedlings like a mini greenhouse. They have started to turn brown now so I use them sort of like Corie is doing. I took the doors off the refrigerator and sat it out beside the garden to put tools so I don’t have to put them away if I’m going to need them again in the next few days. Recently the refrigerator has been the home of a large family of squatters but they have since been evicted. They were a swarm of yellow jackets in a nest about the size of your head.
I love this! That bench area was just waiting for those beautiful flowers. What an awesome idea! I have some old washtubs that were my in-laws and I’ve been thinking about using them for planters. Corie, I loved the video with you and Katie chatting with Granny. I think she enjoyed it as much as you girls did. So precious! Continued prayers for all of you.
Chatter, your fridge drawers made beautiful planters & the three fit perfectly on the porch seat. I’m constantly saving “stuff” that I think I can use some day. Most people call that being a “pack rat” but I call it smart & frugal. Looks like your flowers are loving their new home in the drawers. Hugs & prayers to the family & especially to Miss Cindy.
You have developed an eye for repurposing! I have kept many items throughout the years that I’ve felt were “useful objects”. However, if a person doesn’t actually follow through and use them, it can lead to an accumulation of clutter. I imagine Granny was happy that you and Austin could put those drawers to good use. It was a win-win for everyone! The flowers you chose are so bright and cheerful, and you will enjoy them greatly this summer!
I love seeing things filled with flowers especially recycled items. good job!
Who would have thought of such a great idea? A lady up the road has a colorful doll bed converted to a ‘flower bed’ in her front yard. Her idea is almost as clever as yours!
I love the look you ended up with! Retro, some how. And the flowers add so much color. The drawers get to continue being useful, which is about as much as we can hope for ourselves, too.
I’ve planted in just about everything I can find this year. My back porch is full of herbs in coffee containers which I have a very hard time getting rid of. I have so many Folgers & Maxwell House containers around, filled with various things, I’ve had to start writing on the outside what’s inside or we’d spend all day looking for the clothespins or the nuts, bolts, & screws. I use one for kitchen scraps to take to compost, too.
Anyway, my favorite re-used planter is an enormous old galvanized washtub. We put an old round cement picnic tabletop on a tree stump and the tub sits up there. It’s absolutely full- maybe TOO full of Calendula and Nasturtiums. I worry I’ve overcrowded them. Lots of green but no blooms yet. I’m growing Calendulas because of you, your sister and your mom.
Chatter, that is a creative way to recycle to make some cute planters. I had two large clear fruit drawers from our old fridge, so I put them up front next to my flower planters to capture rain water. Now I don’t have to carry my 5 gallon water bucket from my back yard to water my front flower planters. I just use a large 40 oz cup to get water out of them to water my flowers. They have been a big help since I didn’t want to put out a big rain barrel in my front yard like I have in my back yard. I have three rain barrels in my back yard to water my garden from. Now, I have two unnoticeable clear drawers sitting between my flower planters that serve the same purpose as my rain barrels.
so beautiful corie! love it!
It helps to think outside of the box … or the drawer. LOL. If you care to, some of that spray paint that works on plastic can make them fun colors. There’s two different brands, I think one of them is Rustoleum? It’ll be marked on the can that it will stick to plastic. Just spray it and you’re done.
Chatter, my grandmother would use her old enamel cooking pots for her flowers after the pots would get a hole in them. I had a metal wheel barrel wheel I found somewhere and used it to make a wood wheel barrel and have planted flowers in it. I also have the bottom stand from grandmother’s wood cook stove and put planks on it and set flower pots on it. The refrigerator trays you have look nice. I almost forget, I also have one of the old Maytag washing machines from 50’s filled with dirt and have flowers planted in it. Somewhere I saw flowers planted in an old commode. I am one of the world’s worse to save things that most people would throw away and will eventually find a use for them. I have often wished I could hang out around my county dump and pick up the useful things that are threw away. Their money must have come a lot easier to the ones that throw these items away than mine did to me.
Chatter, this is a great use for the old drawers, and an example of recycling just as your Granny has done. The bench is the perfect size for them! I’ve been known to turn most anything into a flower pot just to add bright spots in the yard. I once pulled an old pair of boots out of the closet and planted some beautiful petunias in them; I also found an old cast iron pot belly stove at a junk store and set it up as a flower stand. It wasn’t long before I had ivy coming out the cracks and crevices. What was old becomes new.
I LOVE that! Well done, Chatter! 🙂
Chatter described one true gardener/homesteader trait – she and Austin both learned and wanted more from their first garden. Hope is the sign of the gardeners heart – planting a seed and hoping it grows, making a garden and hoping it produces food, hope for the future is key. Also, a true gardener learns each season and finds ways to get better – they both planned during the winter and hoped for a stronger garden. They didn’t give up but got stronger. I love when younger people develop those traits and you must be very proud of them. They will certainly make a great garden – next year. It’s always next year that hope allows us to dream. I also love to use older things that have lost purpose. Loving to craft and make scrapbooks, I attended many classes and had a lot of fun with my daughter and friends while we worked. My favorite thing was to get scraps from the trash and make something beautiful with them then gift it away. It built my ability to imagine and also my love of leftovers. Good for you Chatter and your flower boxes are really beautiful and have more meaning than any you would buy from a store!
You are continuing the Appalachian folkway of conserving things by re-use or re-purpose. Of course you were well trained to it. Vexing to throw something away and later think, “If I had only thought of .. .” such and such use.
I love it! I saw your post about this and thought it was a clever idea. I love knowing the backstory and now everytime you go out and see them, you’ll think of Granny and her sweetness! Building memories one day at a time. Much love from SC, Jane
Chatter, I think you’re UPCYCLED (that’s the new term for saved junk) flower pots look beautiful! I especially like the orange ones in the center box. I can see you have the creative Pressley- Wilson spirit and wonderfully creative ideas! Be patient with yourself as you are still newly wed, and big time gardening will naturally come in time, I feel certain! I mean all the natural gardening talent is in your blood! It’s good to hear from you as well! May you be richly blessed in peace in all your wonderful endeavors and marriage! Stay precious, sweet young lady! You’re the bee’s knees!!!
Love your, “Just in case” planters. Fit the area perfect. I think your garden area looks great.
Very genius, Chatter, your flower pots are beautiful.
Chatter,
Good improvising! People have “made do” with what they had available for ages.
Pretty flowers.
Good job!
I just love giving an old discarded item a new “job.”
That’s a nest idea. I’m always using things for something they’re not intended to be used for. You could even get a permanent marker or washi tape a color that matches your flowers and cover the gray strip on top of the containers.
I think they are darling! I also think it would be kinda fun/funny to plant lettuce in the crisper drawer!
I was thinking along the same lines, Janet. A Silhouette system could make some interesting labels that could be changed as different things are planted. My first idea was “Ice Cold Celosia”.
A great example of repurposing! My mom was of the same mind as your granny. Glad you found a use for those containers.
good morning friends of Appalachia, God bless you! God bless me and my family ,God bless Ms Cindy and Tipper and her family, I ask in Jesus name, God help! God help!
I’m surprised how nice these turned out. Very creative.
Love, love, love that Granny saved those fridge drawers and Chatter made planters out of them. They made great planters. My Aunt Helen used to take the grill part of a propane grill and make it into a planter.
Oh goodness, some of the things I have garbaged and could have use them. I did learn about cutting holes in a 5 gallon bucket for another you tuber. If you drill the holes with the bit going in a clockwise rather than counter-clockwise it will not work. My husband is going to try that next week when we plant more potatoes. You and Austin are too cute, and, Happy Anniversary last March. It was a beautiful ‘shindig’. God Bless you all
Gloria, I am not being a smart donkey but am confused by you saying the holes need to be drill counter-clockwise. To me a hole is a hole. Counter-clockwise is used to back the drill bit out, clockwise helps pull the drill bit in. I saw a perfectly good drill sold at an auction because the one selling did not know the switch on the drill was in reverse and thought something was wrong with the drill. There are some bits made to drill counter-clockwise, one use is for drilling hole for an “easy out” to remove wrung off bolts. Clockwise will sometimes make the broke off bolt tighter.
Glenda, I apologize for getting your name wrong. I am sorry please forgive me.
Waste not, want not, make it do, or do without as our grandkids say. Repurposing is fun too
What a great idea. Since my garage refrigerator died this week, I can keep the the crisper drawers for planting! Now to find my drill…
I’m praying for all the family. Have a wonderful day and God bless.
watched the video Chatter made about this and I think it’s very sweet. Love your Granny too ❤️
It’s so lovely to plant in heritage repurposed pots! I do this and it keeps alive those days gone past. Sweet! I have all kinds of repurposed pots. My favorite is the old iron tub pulled out of one of the 1st electric washin machines. I recall usin it at the farm. We’d scrub our clothes on an old wash board (now hangin
I’m my kitchen) then we’d rinse in a huge tub in the yard with water from the hand dug well. We would take and turn on the ringers and carefully roll each fresh washed item through without rollin our fingers! Then hang on the clothes line to dry. I now plant several varieties of coleus in that tub which is the centerpiece of my kitchen garden where I grow tender early spring greens and herbs. No tellin what you’ll come up with to plant in. Those are the best planters. Blessings