Using Baskets as Planters

Using baskets as planters is a great, unique way to bring charm and texture into your garden. You can recycle your favourite baskets that you no longer need in the house or find some great baskets to use at thrift stores and flea markets.

I have a well-documented love of all types of baskets and woven, basket-like home goods. I’ve acquired quite a collection of vintage baskets from antique markets and thrift stores, and I love to use them all around the house for storage and for adding warmth and texture to our rooms. Despite my love for the baskets we have inside our home, I think this way of displaying them outdoors might be my favorite use for baskets yet. I’ve been making basket planters for a few years now, and I’m always so happy with how they add so much charm and character to our outdoor spaces. Despite being made of natural materials, a beautiful basket planter will last several years if left outside and exposed to the elements year-round, getting slightly more weathered and rustic-looking with each season. When a basket has broken down beyond use, it can be composted or burned with the rest of the garden debris in your woodpile. Here’s how to use baskets as planters.

Pictured above: White All-Weather Planters

Using Baskets as Planters: Choose the Right Basket

All natural material baskets will break down eventually, but a thick, sturdy basket will last longer. Look for things like old woven trash cans, picnic baskets, Easter baskets, or any other style of basket with a bit of depth to it. I found this sturdy rectangular basket pictured below at the thrift store for $1.99, and I thought it would make a perfect basket planter.

The basket I’ll be using for today’s demonstration is a bit more weathered, but still in good shape. It has already spent a few seasons outdoors, but I emptied it out at the end of last season, and now I’m starting fresh for this year.

Optional First Step: Paint and Protect

If you find your basket at a thrift store, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to update the style of it a little bit before you put it on display. You can simply apply a clear coat to the basket to help protect it from the weather, or you can do a faux aging paint technique to give it a bit of instant age and charm before you plant in it. You can read about my basket antiquing paint technique here: How to Paint Any Basket Look Like an Antique Find

You may even wish to paint your basket in a bold, solid color to add some vibrancy and whimsy to your porch, patio, or front step. If you do this, be sure to finish up with a protective clear coat to keep the color looking fresh for as long as possible.

Begin Planting

You’ll first need to fill your basket with some kind of potting mix to plant in. If your basket has a bit of a tighter weave, you can actually put the potting mix directly in the basket, but you may choose to put a bit of liner in the bottom first, which is what I usually do. This will help your basket last a little longer, and it will keep the soil in place so your porch stays clean.

For my basket liner, I like to use a piece of landscaping fabric if I have some available. This holds the soil in while allowing for good drainage. In a pinch, as I’ve done many times, you can use a piece of a black plastic garbage bag and just cut a few slits in the part of the bag that will be resting on the bottom of the basket for drainage. Either way, cut your liner a bit larger than your basket. You want it to be sticking out a little at the top to make sure everything is held in place. Those ends can just be tucked in after planting.

If you basket it very deep, you can fill the bottom with garden debris, wood chips, packing peanuts, or some cardboard to take up a bit of the extra space, help with drainage, and make it so the basket isn’t too heavy when it’s finally filled. Here’s an example of how that would look.

Fill the rest of the basket about 3/4 full with potting mix. Here’s the basket I worked on most recently, filled with potting mix and a landscape fabric liner.

Next, it’s time to add your plants! Here’s one basket planter I made a few years ago using dragon’s wing begonia, purple sweet potato vine, and coleus.

For my most recent planter, I decided to add some perennial succulent ground covers for a really interesting porch planter. I’ll need to wait for them to fill in, but my hope is that they’ll trail over and, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to keep this planter alive over the winter to reuse next year. I only manage to keep my perennials in planters alive over the winter about 50% of the time, but I’m hoping this one will survive!

Once your plants are in place, fill in around each seedling with more potting mix, press them in gently, then water thoroughly.

I love this trick to add extra style to any outdoor space in a way that’s sustainable, inexpensive, creative, and beautiful. If you’ve never tried using a basket as a planter, make one up for your deck or patio and let me know how it goes!

Here’s one more I made recently with a handled basket. I think it turned out quite nicely with ivy and gerbera daisies.