I had been eyeballing this bench all summer. My brother made it years ago. It has been outside. The squirrels like to chew on the edges. It was starting to fall apart, the leg on the left side was getting ready to crash, a roof piece (far right) was cracked. It was headed for the garbage at the rate it was decaying.
On Sunday night at 7pm, I visualized a planter. Clear as a bell.
I realized the three boards that made the seat, and had the same patina as the rest of the bench, could be added to help form the box to hold pots. (I do not put dirt directly in wooden planters and window boxes).
My husband finished his part Tuesday night. It took three evenings for him to deconstruct, cut, repair, and reassemble. And I made at least three trips to Lowe’s for supplies.
Even though the pots were empty, Middle had to help my husband carry the finished bench out to the driveway Tuesday night. I had helped him carry it in the garage to work on it. But with 2” x 4” 's added, underneath to hold the pots, it was too heavy for me to carry very far when it was done.
Wednesday morning, I had to move, paver stones and a bin, early so my husband could help me put the bench in place before he left for work. I could not carry it from little bay of garage to driveway, but I could help move it 4 feet.
Then I filled the pots. Mums are planted now for fall. I will put Zinnias in this planter in the summer. I am buying a second set of pots so I can (hopefully) winter the mums in the garage (in 1st set of pots). And start zinnias (2nd set of pots) from seed, in the garage, in the spring.
And I was super super happy. Not only is the planter great, we saved something my brother made years ago. I wish I had thought of it sooner. Because I am very excited to have a place sunny enough for mums and zinnias.
It is in a sunny spot which is rare in our yard.
And it helps hide the air conditioner.
And it was a forced clean out of a spot which tends to gather clutter and could be seen from the street.
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| The blue in the background is two kiddie pools. The bottom one is full of sod/dirt which is drying so it can be reused. The top pool keeps out the rain and dew. After it is all dry, the grass roots are easy to remove and the clean dirt will go around that Red Twigged Dogwood on the corner. |
It was a miracle I found (square!) pots which fit perfectly (in black!).
If we had been making this planter from scratch, I would have bought the pots first and built around their size. Second set of pots also serves as back up when one eventually cracks.
My husband drilled holes in bottom of pots. The holes line up with the space between the support boards underneath. There were very short little legs on the pots, they sit directly on the support boards.
I did not add a layer of stones to bottom (because of weight). Instead I put in a layer of weed tarp to keep the hole open for drainage. First time I have ever done that.
So water does not drain directly on the wood, and air can circulate. We will see how that works.
