Newbie gardeners have bags of enthusiasm, pots of commitment and acres of curiosity. However, they don’t have actual bags, pots and acres.

But this isn’t a problem.

Urban and junk gardening is all about lateral thinking and using what you have to hand in creative and funky ways.

Some months ago, I attended a seminar by Paul Richens of Blue Dome Synergies. An extremely personable chap and passionate urban gardener, he stated, “plants don’t care what pots they grow in”.

This is the gardener’s first hurdle. Every gardener wants a pretty plot and forgets that plants are beautiful things. All a plant needs is soil, water and food. They aren’t interested in the latest fired earth creation or designer cast iron container.

Last week, I talked about Freecycle and threw a whole bunch of possibilities at you for trash treasure hunting. Let’s go into a little bit more depth and look at ways to get plant containers for nothing.

Most plants like depth, width and plenty of drainage. If you’re gardening on the balcony, you also need to think about weight. That modern concrete container with added plant, water and soil will end up on your neighbour’s balcony in about five minutes flat!

Thinking Outside the Container

Look in your recycling bin. You have tin cans, olive oil tins, Styrofoam trays and boxes, Tetrapaks, and plastic trays. They already started their lives as containers – they may as well end up that way.

All they need is a good wash with hot soapy water and the addition of some drainage holes around the bottom. Plants like a good drink of water every now and then but they don’t like wet feet.

Your imagination really comes into play here when you match up containers and plants. Olive oil tins visually lend themselves well to tomatoes, peppers and basil. Tetrapaks sing with fruit-coloured flowers. The simplicity of a sleek aluminium can marries well with charming daisies and marigolds.

The combinations are endless.

On my balcony, I have:

  • A cordon tomato in an olive oil tin
  • Several marigolds in aluminium cans
  • Chamomile, tomatoes and lavender in tall wicker baskets
  • Peppers in catering sized baked bin tins
  • A courgette in a vegetable oil tin
  • Cut and come again lettuces in a large Styrofoam box
  • Lollo Rosso lettuces in a wooden vegetable box
  • Thyme in an old bread baking tin
  • Marjoram in a vintage tobacco tin with its old label still attached
  • Spinach beet in a plastic paint kettle
  • Carrots in a wooden magazine rack
  • Potatoes in a supermarket jute bag

Recycling should be your last port of call – there are far too many goodies in that bin!