The Green Grape

Everybody knows that wooden wine or soda crates stamped with their appellation of origin make for attractive shelves and storage boxes. But they’re also useful as garden containers. Nab a box from your local wine store or fl ea market, and drill several 1⁄2" holes in the bottom for drainage. If you set the container on a sunny fi re escape, opt for drought-tolerant herbs like lemon thyme, Mexican cilantro, and sage. Separate the plants, leaving them plenty of room to spread, and keep the soil consistently moist.

Bowled Over

Salad bowls must have been the engagement gift of choice 20 years ago (as evidenced by their current popularity on thrift-store shelves). Lucky for you, the rotund bowls make perfect planters for shallow-rooted trailing plants (try Irish moss, Scotch moss, wooly thyme, or saxifrage), and tough-as-nails succulents. When choosing a bowl, width is less important than depth; use bowls that are more than 4" deep. While wooden bowls beat out plastic in the looks department, they require more watering and their weathered look can quickly turn to grimy rot. Plastic scores points for both longevity and moisture retention.

Growing Wardrobe 

On garbage day, city streets are usually lined with dresser drawers ripe for the picking. These prefab boxes are perfect for growing seedlings. Chipboard will disintegrate, so make sure you use all-wood drawers, and drill several 1⁄2" holes through the bottom. Fill with rich soil, and sow a thin layer of seed evenly across the surface. Cover with 1⁄4" of soil and water regularly.

In a Pickle

Kitchen stoneware lasts longer than most fine china, which means there are plenty of old-fashioned heavy-duty pickling jars still in circulation. Give yours new life as a big-bellied home for bog plants. For aspiring green thumbs who tend to drown cacti, try a carnivorous pitcher plant in a soil mix composed of equal parts sand, coir (or peat), and perlite. Water well.