We make flowerbeds from barrels with our own hands

A flowerbed made from a barrel is a very economical and original way to decorate your garden using available materials. It can significantly save space if there is not enough space for a large flower garden. This is a great opportunity to make good use of old unnecessary containers and show your artistic talents within the confines of your garden plot.

Features of flower beds from barrels

Flower beds and flower beds made from barrels look interesting and unusual, which undoubtedly attracts the views of others. There are a lot of options for designing such flower beds, and for the owner of a plot of land in a dacha, this is simply an inexhaustible source for realizing fantasies in decorative floristry.

They have their own characteristics:

Form. The round shape of a standard barrel, less often - square. The flowerbed has the shape of a cylinder, a boat shape or a complex multi-tiered structure.
Material. Depending on the type of source material, flower beds can be made of wood, plastic or metal.
Design. From a standard tub you can build a flowerbed of various designs - from simple standard to complex, multi-tiered or combined.

A barrel is a convenient container for creating a large flower bowl, which can be used in the usual way, or cut lengthwise, crosswise, or laid sideways.

Preparation for painting and tools

The container for painting is properly prepared.

Barrel cleaning

Before painting the barrel, its surface is washed from dirt, leveled if necessary, old paint and rust are removed using sandpaper or a metal brush, wiped with a solvent, removing dirt and remaining dyes and oils.

Tools needed: barrel, rag, metal brush, sandpaper or paper, acrylic paints (paint cans), metal or rust paints, wood paints for exterior work, white spirit or gasoline, wide and narrow brushes, stencils, simple pencils, scraper, primer.

Do-it-yourself flowerbed from a wooden barrel

A wooden tub is a series of wooden planks fitted together, rigidly fastened with a metal hoop. It is an old wood structure, strong and durable. If such a barrel accidentally lays around on the site, then it can be given a second life and used as a flower bed. These flower beds made from very old tubs look beautiful, adding a touch of vintage and creativity.

Simple option

The simplest version of a flower garden at the dacha is a whole wooden barrel as it is, laid on its side. First, the container should be prepared: rinsed from sand, soil and lightly sanded. After this, the future flowerbed should be rinsed well and dried well. Next, painting work is carried out. The tub must be treated with a special antifungal compound, and then covered with stain (or burned with a lamp) and moisture-resistant varnish.

While the covering of the wooden tub dries, you need to prepare a place for the flower bed and seeds (seedlings). For a flower bed with a “flowing out” effect, the soil is first prepared. This place should be dug up and loosened. Then a shallow trench is made under the barrel to bury it in the ground and secure it from rolling.

The dried barrel is placed on the prepared place, lightly sprinkled on the sides, compacted and filled 1/3 with soil. Next, flower seeds or finished seedlings are planted. The original flower bed is ready.

You can build a simple flowerbed from a wooden barrel by cutting it in half. For this purpose you will need a trimming machine or jigsaw. As a result, from one barrel of any capacity you get 2 identical flowerpots. If you have a special tool, the trimmed edge can be decorated figuratively, for example, with a “wave”, small “festoons” or even with a perforated edge.

You can make an original flowerbed from several wooden containers. For this purpose, tubs of different sizes and diameters are suitable. Such compositions look very beautiful in combination with boulders, sandstone, multi-colored sea or river pebbles.

Three-tier design

The three-tier structure made from a tub is a flower garden with several levels of plantings. It looks great on the site, allows you to grow different types of flowers in one place and does not take up too much space on the site.

The procedure for installing a three-tier wooden flower bed:

Mark on the barrel the lines for the location of the levels and their width in the middle. Saw the barrel along the marked lines. Cut the metal hoop with a hacksaw.
Secure cross boards on each tier. The width of the board should be equal to the height of the tier (see diagram below). You need to make several through holes in the bottom of the barrel to drain excess moisture.
Sand all wooden surfaces with sandpaper and coat them with a protective compound against rot and bugs. Next, the flowerbed can be painted, coated with moisture-resistant varnish and allowed to dry thoroughly.

After the varnish coating has dried, the flowerbed is installed in a permanent place near the house and filled. Crushed stone is laid at the bottom in one layer (for drainage), then all levels are filled with soil. After this, seeds or flower seedlings are planted in the flower garden.

Four-tier flower bed

A flowerbed with 4 tiers is mounted in the same way as a three-tiered one, and it can have several options for attaching a transverse board.

When the plants begin to actively grow and bloom, the flowerbed from a wooden barrel turns into an interesting, multi-colored and completely unusual composition that delights the owners and their guests (photo below in the text).

With holes on the sides

A flower garden made from a wooden tub can be decorated in the manner of a “high bed”. You can grow climbing flowers, petunias or, for example, strawberries in it. With good growth and flowering, such a flowerbed is completely covered with greenery and the wooden container becomes almost invisible.

The procedure for creating a flower bed with side holes:

Clean the unwanted wooden barrel with coarse sandpaper, rinse and dry. It would be a good idea to treat the wood with a moisture-resistant impregnation. If desired, the tub can be impregnated with stain and be sure to be coated with durable varnish.
You need to drill several holes in the side surface of the barrel in a checkerboard pattern. It is more convenient to do this with a drill with a crown of the required diameter (7-10 cm). The minimum distance between holes must be at least 15 cm.
Small holes must be made in the bottom of the barrel to allow excess moisture to escape. Then the barrel is installed in a permanent place near the house, the bottom is covered with a small layer of gravel (for better drainage). A pipe with a diameter of 10 cm with holes is inserted into the center of the flowerbed and also covered with gravel. This may be a plastic pipe that is used to install a sewer system. Next, the barrel is completely covered with earth. After this, you can plant plants in the side holes and in the top of the barrel. Once all the plants are planted, you should water (and fertilize) generously through the central pipe.

The flowerbed looks very beautiful in the garden, in the garden, in the front garden, near the entrance doors and on the terrace. It can be used as a fence on a plot of land, as well as as part of a landscape design composition.

Mobile beds made of iron barrels

High Ridge Mobile

The preparation of barrels for mobile ridge is the same as in the organization of a composter. Zucchini and cucumbers can be planted in these beds; and this can be done directly on the compost posypav top layer of fertile soil 20-30 cm

This ridge is convenient because the spreading foliage of the planted crops does not occur in the bed, but hangs and curls around the trunk. In addition, if the garden is still at an early stage of development and the ridges are not ready, the trunk can serve as a temporary option that is easy to move and change as the site is developed.

DIY flower garden from a metal barrel

Old metal containers can also make great flowerpots in your garden. In order to make such a flowerbed with your own hands, metal barrels of different volumes and shapes are suitable. The barrel can be used as a free-standing flowerpot or in a group of several barrels.

Most often, iron barrels for flower beds are used without any special changes in design. Recently it has become very popular to decorate them with painting. The drawings are very different - from artistic painting in the Gzhel style to futuristic miniatures in the genre of modern kitsch and airbrushing.

To create an interesting composition, you will need two metal cans, which will no longer be needed on the farm for their intended purpose. They can be different or the same in volume, it doesn't matter. The order of making a flower bed is as follows:

Metal barrels need to be sanded, washed and dried. In the upper part, several holes are made along the entire circumference (approximately 3 cm from the edge) for subsequent fixation of the container with soil inside the future flowerpot. The barrel should be primed and then painted. Once the main background paint has dried, the exterior surfaces can be painted. This is an optional stage of registration and depends entirely on the wishes of the owner.
To create a “sweet couple” flowerbed (photo above) you don’t need great artistic talent, you just need to copy the drawing from the source according to your color preferences.
After applying the painting and drying it, you can begin installing the flowerbed itself. A wire is pulled through the holes at the top of the barrel, with which, for example, an old household basin is fixed inside the canister. You can use any container of suitable size, plastic or metal. The barrels are installed at a permanent location on the site, and the containers (cans) inside them are filled with soil. Flower seeds or finished seedlings are planted in the ground. The flower garden is watered abundantly.

The final touch to this composition is the installation of decorative umbrellas.

Advice! It is not advisable to completely fill metal flower beds with soil, since time and moisture will inevitably cause the metal to deteriorate. In addition, such a flower garden will be very problematic to move.

Outdoor stoves made of iron barrels

A simple diagram of an outdoor oven for cooking in a cauldron. It is better to use small metal stoves with a volume of 60 liters. Cut off the lid from the barrel; the upper and lower belt in order to drill holes on one side saw through the door so that the firewood lay. When purchasing a cauldron, take into account the diameter of the stove, so that it is firmly installed on the top.

Flowerbed made from a plastic barrel

Old plastic barrels can be extremely useful for all sorts of crafts in the garden. After all, this material is practically resistant to corrosion, it is easy to work with and it is very light. Small plastic containers and large barrels are suitable for creating flower beds.

Plastic barrels for flower beds can be lined with wooden slats, decorated with artificial and natural stones, or simply used in their original form. A barrel flower garden is placed vertically or horizontally; now it has become very popular to use such containers to create vertical flower beds and beds.

A vertical flower bed from a plastic barrel can be made quickly and easily in this order:

A stand is mounted for the flowerbed barrel. It can be made with furniture wheels or using 2 parallel slats. It is necessary to make holes in the bottom to allow excess moisture to escape. Holes are made on the side surface of the plastic tub for planting flower seedlings.
Next, drainage is poured onto the bottom (coarse expanded clay or crushed stone), and the rest of the flowerbed is covered with soil. Seedlings are planted in the holes on the side surface of the barrel and in its upper part, after which the flowerbed is watered abundantly with water.

When the flowers begin to actively grow and bloom, the barrel will become almost invisible, and the flower garden will look like a beautiful multi-colored column.

Option #5 – container made of plastic or metal

The advantage of a plastic barrel is its excellent preservation. It doesn't rust. It can be used in the same way as a wooden one, but it does not look as impressive. Before planting flowers in it, you need to correct this drawback: the plastic should be decorated. It’s interesting to paint the container using a remote control or a spray can.

In order not to spoil the work initially, you need to place a clean and dry barrel on a large piece of polyethylene or unnecessary fabric: dirt and dust will not stick

You can use twigs and other materials as a stencil that can create a recognizable outline. They should be thick enough so that the paint sprays around and does not smear on leaves and other surfaces. The contour formed around the template can be slightly corrected with a brush.

When using iron barrels as flower beds, the most important issue is decorating them themselves. Wonderful flowers are just the hairstyle of new garden characters

To transform an old metal canister, you need to thoroughly clean it of dirt and dry it in the sun. This way we will prepare the surface for the upcoming work. The main background should be applied using a roller or wide brush. It’s better not to skimp on paint. We draw the details of the pattern with a thin brush. The resulting funny flower beds will become a real decoration of your site. You can get ideas by watching this video:

Other ideas for decorating a flower bed from a barrel

You can use barrels to make a large flower bed in the form of a small garden if you want to landscape a certain area of your garden plot or area next to your house, for example, a terrace. Such flower beds are suitable for both low and tall plants.

To create flower beds, old barrels, cut lengthwise, are often used. An original and very simple solution could be a flower bed placed on its side - this creates a delightful effect of flowers “flowing out”.

It’s easy to make an original flowerbed with a small pond and river stone from an old barrel. For such a flower bed, you can use garden figurines with lamps and mini fountains.

Flower beds made of wooden barrels with an artificial waterfall and lighting look great on the site. The ideal solution for creating such a composition would be solar-powered LED garden lights.

Beautiful and very unusual flower beds are made from metal barrels, decorated with your own hands. Stencils are used to paint metal flower beds, and the design can be applied using an airbrush or metal spray paint. In order for it to be better preserved and not fade, after creating the painting it is better to varnish the metal flowerbed.

A flowerbed made from a wooden barrel, made by yourself, will decorate not only the garden plot, but also the street. Flowerbeds made from barrels can be used to decorate the front gardens of apartment buildings and playgrounds.

Complex diagram - we draw it ourselves

If you can boast of artistic talent, decorating barrels in your dacha will become even more creative and will bring you a lot of pleasure. You can use all your imagination and create a real masterpiece.

Is there only one barrel at the dacha? Then turn it into a painting with a fairy-tale plot or landscape. Draw something that will fit into or become a continuation of the landscape design on your summer cottage. This could be an image of a blossoming apple tree branch in the garden, a “portrait” of a hedgehog or a beloved pet.

If there are several containers, you can play on quantity. Create an interesting plot from barrels: draw a couple in love, characters from the fairy tale “The Three Little Pigs” or even seven dwarves, if you like.

Tips for artists:

as in the first scheme, after priming, apply a background coating of moisture-resistant paint;
if you are not sure that you can draw accurately the first time, first make a “sketch” with a marker;
to better draw details, use brushes of different sizes;
work slowly;
Don’t worry about small “blunders” - they can be hidden with background paint.

Original ideas for decorating a water barrel in the country

Instead of paper stencils, you can use tree leaves. This pattern fits harmoniously into the natural design of the summer cottage.
If you have drawn a character or just a cheerful person, a bright umbrella is suitable to complete the image.
To create a watercolor effect, you can use a sponge instead of brushes when painting a barrel. But only an experienced artist can handle this task well. Although a summer cottage is exactly the place where novice craftsmen can practice.
A creative idea for kids to participate: you can create a design on a garden barrel using your palms. This way you will capture the hands of your children, bring incredible joy to the children and create original decor in your dacha. In this case, you should use non-aggressive types of paints for the ornament, and the resulting pattern should be varnished after drying.

You can decorate a garden barrel in different ways. Show your imagination, and simple summer cottage equipment will become the highlight of your summer cottage.

Streets and houses furniture made from iron barrels

Furniture made from barrels is very diverse. A novice master will choose a simpler option, for example, a bar counter made of a barrel with a round tabletop. The tabletop can be made yourself, along the lines of large wooden power line reels, or you can order one piece of solid wood.

Bar table with wooden top

An experienced craftsman with a good set of tools can take a set of furniture for a patio sofa and chairs, or make an original bar cabinet.

Iron Furniture Set

Locker - bar

Craftsmen without the use of tools or skills, but with a talent for drawing, can make a barrel out of an original cabinet and paint it in the manner of an old wrought iron chest. The taste and complexity of the product will be given by the handles screwed to it and the locks are made of metal.

Cabinet with painted barrels