Using Galvanized Washers as a Garden Planter

Galvanized Washers make a GREAT planter for any garden! Not only will they help raise the dirt to your level, but they also contain a drain hole at the bottom already for easy water drain!

The skies the limit with these washers as they can be placed anywhere and can be used for beautiful farmhouse decor! And what more of a beautiful way can we recycle and reuse this old timey equipment!

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Prep Your Area

The first thing you’ll want to do while setting up your washer is to make sure that you have it in a sturdy place. Not all ground is level, and your washer can easily tip over if not secured right.

Try placing a stone or brick under any loose legs to help level it out.

I don’t recommend wood because they tend to rot out, and if you have your washer full of dirt and plants it can be too heavy to lift and fix quickly.

Find other raised Galvanized garden beds here!

Setting up Your Galvanized Washers

First thing we did to set up our old, galvanized washers, is we went around collecting a bunch of rocks. Make sure to take a wheelbarrow or a bucket for easy transport, because rocks get heavy fast!

Start with a layer or two of rocks on the bottom your washer. This will help fill up some space, while allowing water to run through and also give extra sturdiness to your washer so that a windstorm won’t knock it over easily.

The next thing we did, was lay down a layer of weed block netting. Not necessarily to keep weeds out, but to help keep the dirt from getting into the layer of rocks you placed on the bottom.

This will keep the dirt from clogging the drain hole of your washer.

Fill your galvanized washer with potting soil, fertilizer and compost mixture and fill to the top and then add any plant that you like!

Using your Galvanized Washers

These recycled galvanized washers can be used either for flower purposes or food purposes!

We generally use these in our garden as our small veggie planters. So far, they have done great with our onion and radish!

The height elevation definitely makes things a lot easier for the radish picking!

But otherwise, they should do well with carrots and or small lettuce varieties as well!

Check out some of our other DIY projects! Butterfly Bath and DIY Gallon Jug Greenhouse