Create a bucket garden

Bucket garden. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

We caught the gardening bug late this year, but hit upon a great idea in the planning. Bucket gardens, decorated by my crafty girls and filled with bright annuals, ready to brighten up the porch or flower bed, depending on our whim (and the summer heat.)

Our starting point was with a video from The Home Depot ~ an informative five-minute presentation that outlined the materials required and how to put together the bucket. Instead of pails, we used the smallest garbage cans available, Behrens 6 gallon galvanized trash cans with a lid and handle. (I've learned the hard way with container plants that the bigger the pot, the more moisture they can hold, thus allowing the plants to survive any inconsistencies in watering.)

Wave petunias. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The girls decorated the buckets using paint pens from Michaels. We like a little poetry and a little whimsy in our garden. And Emily Dickinson always inspires...

Paint markers make the artist's job easy. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Hope is the thing with feathers. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I used a heavy duty hammer and screwdriver to drive drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket and the girls filled the buckets with garden soil. I showed them how to gently pull the plants from the containers ~ Little Bit loves the phrase from the Home Depot video ~ "tickle the roots!" A little gardening lesson that she'll always remember.

The finished garden, getting its first drink. Laura Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The bucket gardens turned out beautifully and I'm looking forward to a summer full of color from the wave petunias, the lantana and daisies that we planted!

Check out the Home Depot for the bucket garden how-to and more ideas for easy gardening projects.