Food, Community & Government, Home & Lifestyle

Creating Planters

Lesson time 14:17 min

Ron demonstrates how to upcycle common household items into beautiful containers and planters and then walks you through the essential tools that every gardener needs.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Upcycling Containers • Setting Up Your Container • Tools of the Trade

Ron Finley

Teaches Gardening

Community activist and self-taught gardener Ron Finley shows you how to garden in any space, nurture your plants, and grow your own food.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - So right now I'm going to show you some of the tools you must have in your garden. And also we're going to show you how to utilize and save some space in your garden by making containers. [MUSIC PLAYING] Right now, I'm going to show you some of the things that you can use for containers in your garden. I have a way-- to me there's no trash. there's only art waiting to happen. So I use a lot of old stuff. If it can hold soil, I'm putting a plant in it. Because all I have to do is use this to put holes in it. Like this, this old suitcase can be used for a planter. Actually, this too. You can put-- you can put plants in here, drill some holes in it. What we might do if you want it in your garden, you can put some feet on it so it gets air from the bottom and it drains. And there you have a garden. Same thing with this trunk. This could be a great garden bed. And it still has a lot of stylishness to it because of the metal and the buckles and the leather. I like that rustic look. This teapot. I collect teapots. Something about teapots, I don't-- I just love the design. Put a plant in them, drill some holes. These are nice centerpieces for you-- for your parties. This is a good one, dresser drawers, not the plastic new ones they have, but the real wood drawers. So what we would do is I would take this and I would make drainage holes in it. And I would-- what I would also do with this is I would reinforce it. I'd probably get a couple of screws and just reinforce it. Put a couple of screws in each side, because once you get it-- once just gets moisture in it, the work-- the wood is going to swell. And it's going to break apart. But I love-- I love this. I love the design on this, the knob, the keyhole. It's great. So we can put some soil in here. And then you can make a succulent garden or you can put your kale in here, whatever you want. So all of these things can be gardens. Don't look at what it is. Look at what it has the possibility to be. That's how we need to do all our so-called waste. We need to reposition it, repurpose it, and give it another lifecycle, like we did with this, like for instance, this shoe with these succulents in it. You can put all kinds of different plants in this, like you can take, you know, your boyfriend's old boot that he left when you kicked him out the house and put some soil in it. Bam, this could happen. You can almost plant in anything. But if you're going to eat it, there's certain things that I wouldn't plant in. Like if I'm going to eat the food, I wouldn't plant in a suitcase. And there's definitely some things you should avoid, like treated wood, treated lumber. It has toxins in it. And it's made to kill and resist termites in different conditions. And also plastics, like plastics with BPA in it, I wouldn't I wouldn't use those, definitely in a garden because they break down into particles. And they get it-- they leach into the soil. And they break down into the soil, ...

About the Instructor

When Ron Finley first grew a garden on a curbside dirt strip, he got cited—and then a warrant was issued for his arrest. He fought back, got the laws changed, and started a movement. Now the community activist and self-proclaimed “Gangster Gardener” is teaching you how to grow your own food, keep your plants alive, and find beauty and freedom in gardening no matter the size of your space. Start planting a revolution.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Ron Finley

Community activist and self-taught gardener Ron Finley shows you how to garden in any space, nurture your plants, and grow your own food.

Explore the Class