Tip-ful Tuesday -- How to spruce up coconut husk planters.

The last few days have been gorgeous! Beatification at my Casa has been in full swing. I have cushions on my patio furniture, the umbrella is out, and flowers have been planted. I love the warm weather!

Last year, I added some coconut husk planters to the back of the house for more flower lovelies to perk up my patio. I talked about it {here}. The bummer about those planters is the constant watering and the birds had a heyday picking fibers out for their nests. I'm glad that I could contribute to the beautification for their nests, but it left a gaping hole in my planter. Ugh.

I have a tip to share on how to help preserve your planters so that they {hopefully} last more than a summer and a winter.

 You can see here in this picture where the birds had their heyday. So not reusable.

Thankfully, JoAnns had their planters 50%, so I grabbed a couple to replace the ones the birds had pulled apart. Yay!

First off, I wanted to salvage the dirt that was in the old planters. I just got to digging and saved as much as I could using this trusty shovel and pail.

When I had enough dirt removed, I pulled the planter out of the holder. I was able to get the rest of the dirt out by dumping it into my bucket. I also took the time to take out the root balls left over from last years flowers. Don't need that excess in there! ☺

Something that I didn't realize or think of when we put these in, was the house. See here in this picture how the house has some discoloration and kind of a funk behind the planter? I was worried about how overtime it would affect the house. I got to thinking of what could be done to preserve the house and my planter...hmmmm. I spotted the black plastic trash bags that I had pulled my patio cushions out of and had a total genius moment. I could line the planter with the trash bag. Yipee!

I cut the bag in half from top to bottom. You get a similar shape to the planter doing it that way instead of cutting it side to side. Sweet! Lay your plastic inside the planter and tuck the edge behind the back of the planter. This holds it down and protects the house. Make sure you cut several drainage holes in the bottom. You don't want moldy, rotting roots; that would equal dead flowers and we don't want that. ☺

Fill your plastic lined planter with soil and plant your flowers. Yipee! You did it! This will save you and me from having to water several times over the summer. This will also keep my house from getting yucky and gross behind the planter.

This method would work in hanging baskets too. Just cut the plastic to fit your basket and don't forget to cut some drainage holes!

Now you can go plant some lovelies like these...

 Happy Spring and have fun beautifying your casa!