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Concrete flower pots and containers

 

Make your own funky flower pots and containers with empty plastic bottles and some concrete. If you prefer, you can use a hypertufa mix for a more natural looking pot.

 

 

Known in craft circles as Radmegan, Megan Andersen has been crafting, baking, cooking, drawing, sculpting and gardening since she could hold a crayon. In this project, Megan shows you how simple it is to make cute concrete plant pots and containers for your garden, patio, or even for inside your home.

 

 

 

You will need:
Concrete
Sand
Perlite (to make the concrete a bit less heavy when dry)
Water
Plastic containers
Bucket
Craft knife
Stick for mixing

 

 

 

 

Here's how:

 

 

1. I started by cutting any tapered tops off and then nesting smaller plastic containers inside larger ones (ideally, leaving about a 2 cm of space between the two.)

 

2. Next, I made the concrete in my bucket per the directions on the bag and then used a bit of sand, water and perlite, and my trusty all-purpose stick for mixin'!

 

 

I worked quickly, thinking about how cement trucks rotate to keep the gray sludge from hardening.

I poured the wet concrete into my orange juice container and filled it about half way. The amount you pour in, will depend on how large your inner container is. My inner plastic container was so large, that it left only about 1 cm between the outer plastic and the inner plastic walls.

When the first container was filled, I used the rest of the wet concrete to fill my other three containers.

 

NOTE: When you push that smaller plastic container into the wet concrete, you want to keep about 1 cm of concrete UNDER the inner plastic pot. A flimsy foundation will contribute to your concrete planter falling apart!

 

 

3. I let the concrete harden overnight and the next morning I bent, pulled, tugged and cut out the centre plastic containers to expose the interiors of my concrete pots

4. When all of the plastic containers had been removed from the centres of my planters, I realised that planters need drainage holes.

 

 

 

Luckily, my concrete had not fully set, so I took a screw driver to put a drainage hole in the centre of each planter.

I was so excited about my concrete pots! I couldn't wait to see them! In fact, I was a bit too anxious. I pulled off the outer plastic container a bit too soon...

...and the entire thing cracked and crumbled in my hands. Lame. I went inside, made a cup of tea, and should have decided to let my remaining 3 pots cure in the sun for another day before I removed the outer plastic containers. 

But after my tea, I came back outside and SO CAREFULLY, removed the plastic from the last three pots. I'm actually glad I did, because my favourite pot had a teeny trace of the logo still imprinted on the side of it, and since the concrete wasn't quite dry, I was able to scrape it away with the backside of my thumb nail.

I let all three of my concrete pots cure completely (three days in the sun on the driveway to be sure they were fully dry) and then potted them up! I was so, so, so pleased!