Gardening with Wood Planters

Wood planters are strong containers you can use to plant all sorts of things, from greenery and flowers to herbs and even vegetables. Here’s a quick overview of the steps you can follow when you plan to garden with wood planters.

Perform any customization of your wood planters first. Painting, staining, waterproofing, decorating—these all fall under the customization category. Once you have finished this process and allowed time for materials to dry or harden, you can move on to the actual preparation for planting.

You may choose to line your wood planters with heavy plastic in order to separate water from the wood. Top the plastic with a layer of gravel, pebbles, or a similar material. This layer aids proper drainage for your plants. Fill the remaining space with soil or potting mix, but don’t fill the wood planters to the brim; leave a few inches of space at the top.

Lay out your flowers, seeds, or cuttings in an approximate planting pattern. Dig the holes, plant, and cover again with soil. That’s it. Enjoy the results of your work!

Choosing Wood Planters

Wood planters can offer both beauty and strength, but you may find your choices are much more varied than you imagined. Here are a couple things to consider as you choose wood planters.

Why wood planters? They do come in other materials, of course. For one thing, wood planters made of quality materials maintain an attractive appearance year after year. They also do better in colder weather because they offer greater insulation than planters made of other substances. Finally, wood is much easier to customize than plastic or ceramic. You can stain wood, paint it, stencil on it, or glue mosaic tiles to it, among other options.

Which woods? The best materials for wood planters are teak, cedar, and cypress. Each of these types of wood lasts long. These woods resist decay and rotting. In fact, these are such durable woods that they have been used for siding and shingles in houses, and they have lasted 100 years with no maintenance. These woods are worth their price.

Check out some of the many options available to you. You’ll find many wood planters online that come in various shades and finishes. If you buy planters of unfinished teak, cedar, or cypress, you can choose either to finish them or to leave them natural.