How to make a mounted planter

Make magic with a wall-mounted planter, find plenty more uses for mint than just cooking and be inspired to add fresh colours and fragrances to your garden.

• Old shutters
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Hammer
• Nails
• Potting soil
• Plants of your choice
• Iron supports
• Plant trough and drip tray
• Drill
• Drill bits
• Lock and bolt

Step 1

Paint a pair of old shutters with blue enamel paint. Ours are 110cm high and have a combined width of 150cm. If you can’t find shutters at a junk shop or flea market, stores stock them in a range of sizes. Keep the dimensions of your plant trough in mind – ideally it should extend no more than 5cm past the shutters on either side.

Step 2

Paint an old plant trough (ours is 90cm long and 21cm wide) and matching drip tray with lime-green enamel in a matt finish. The drip tray is essential to prevent a mess when you water your plants.

Step 3

Place some large potsherds or stones around the drainage holes and fill the plant trough with potting soil.

Step 4

Plant some red and bright pink ivy pelargoniums in the plant trough along with some ‘Million Bells’ (Calibrachoa).

Step 5

Use a 5mm masonry bit to drill two holes for each shutter into the wall, then use a 5mm wood bit to drill matching holes in the shutters. Hammer plugs through the shutters into the wall and secure the shutters with screws.

Step 6

Drill holes in the wall for the metal supports using a 6mm masonry bit. If a lack of space prevents you from hammering in the plugs directly, use a screwdriver and hammer instead.

Now your DIY is complete

For an authentic look, screw a lock bolt onto the shutters.