Make a Wheelbarrow Garden

Turning an old wheelbarrow into a beautiful rustic planter is a fun, creative way to upcycle and grow a portable garden of flowers, herbs, and bush-style edibles.

Turning an old wheelbarrow into a beautiful rustic planter is a fun, creative way to upcycle and grow a portable garden of flowers, herbs, and bush-style edibles. Get the kids involved!

Materials needed:

- Wheelbarrow

- Drill and 3/4-inch bit

- Fine window screen (optional)

- Scissors (metal screen) or tin snips (aluminum screen)

- Garden gloves

- Miracle-Gro® Moisture Control® Potting Mix

- Young plants (flowers, lettuce or other greens, herbs, or bush-style vegetable plants) like those from Bonnie Plants®

- Mulch

- Miracle-Gro® Liquafeed® All Purpose Plant Food

Directions:

1. Drill 3/4-inch holes into the bottom of the wheelbarrow for drainage, spacing them about 4 to 6 inches apart. If the wheelbarrow already has large holes from rust, you don’t need to add more, but you may want to cut a piece of fine window screen to fit the bottom (to help keep soil from washing out).

2. Move the wheelbarrow to a sunny, level spot.

3. Put on your garden gloves and fill the wheelbarrow to within 3 to 4 inches of the top with Miracle-Gro® Moisture Control® Potting Mix. Ideal for all kinds of containers, this mix protects against over- and under-watering.

4. Plant your Bonnie Plants® (or other young plants) as directed on the plant tags.

5. Water well, then mulch plants with a couple of inches of bagged mulch, bark, wood chips, old leaves, or pine needles to help soil stay moist longer.

6. A month after planting, begin feeding with Miracle-Gro® Liquafeed® All Purpose Plant Food to help plants grow twice as big (vs. unfed). Be sure to follow label directions.