DIY planter from recycled materials

New home for my japanese anemones

Nick and I built this planter last weekend. Actually, Nick did the building and I did the planting. The wood was a left-over panel from the shed (it was homemade and already here when we bought the house), and we discovered it back in spring when I painted the shed. We cut in in 4 parts and assembled what you see, with weed matting for the bottom. I was going to paint it first, but I now I quite like the shabby appearance, and it reminds me of where the panel comes from!

All of the plants I had already, except for the trailing one with the white flowers, which is called Bacopa. One the left are some irises that were on the ground when we bought the house, and which I have kept in pots until now (I had to lift them when we built the vegetable raised beds), and behind the bacopa is a japanese anemome that I bought three years ago and was surviving (but not thriving much) in a very small trough. All three plants have already flowered in shady conditions, which is perfect for where I have put this planter - in the corridor between our house and the neighbours'. They also flower in different seasons (irises in late winter, bacopa in summer and anemones in autumn) so there will always be something interesting going on. All in all it only cost me £8: £5 for the compost and £3 for the bacopa :-)

Esta jardinera la construimos Nick y yo el fin de semana pasado. Es decir, Nick la construyo y yo la plante. La madera era un panel sobrante de cuando los duenos anteriores construyeron la caseta, y que descubrimos en primavera cuando pinte la caseta. Las plantas, excepto la rastrea de las flores blancas (le llaman bacopa) ya las tenia: a la izquierda hay unos iris que ya estaban en el jardin cuando compramos la casa, y que tuve que pasar a macetas cuando construimos la huerta; y detras de la bacopa hay una planta que en ingles le llaman "anemona japonesa", japanese anemone, pero no se el nombre en espanol. Pinchad aqui para ver una foto de las flores. Estas tres plantas ya han dado flores en condiciones de poca luz, lo cual es perfecto para el sitio donde he puesto la jardinera: entre nuestra casa y la del vecino. Los iris florecen a finales de invierno, la bacopa en verano y las anemonas en otono, asi siempre hay algo interesante que ver! En total los materiales solo me costaron 8 libras: 5 del compost y 3 de la bacopa, todo lo demas fue reciclado!