Wine box planters and Nasturtiums

Time to wax lyrical about two of our favourite things. Nasturtiums  and wine! We love nasturtiums. They are a great plant to have on any vegetable patch, windowsill or just generally around the garden. Every bit of them is edible, leaves, flowers and seeds, which make great alternative peppery capers. They are also a fantastic companion plant for pretty much all other veg. They repel a whole load of different pests from brassicas and cucurbits and attract hoverflies who eat aphids. We have them dotted all around our veg and fruit this year and in the last couple of weeks they’ve been popping up out of the soil.

Wine here is great value. You can pick up really quite drinkable wine in large quantities for not a lot of money. It’s not going to win prizes but it beats two for £5 at the evil that is the blue and white supermarket in Britain. However, the large plastic barrels they come in won’t fit in the recycling bins. Not sure if this is an original idea but here’s how we turned the boxes into planters for nasturtiums.

First the fun bit. Empty the wine boxes. 

Doing this in one go is optional!

Then, cut of the top. I used a Stanley knife so you may want to get a grown up to help you. 

No need to be too neat it all adds to the effect (That’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it and anyway slugs and snails hate sharp edges so it’s also protection!)

Rinse them out and drill holes in the bottom. If you needed a grown up for the last step, you will also need one here!

Fill with soil/compost. Sow your seeds.

Sit back and let them grow. Then enjoy, the colours, better veg and more interesting salads. But, please remember what the great philosopher Homer (Simpson) once said. “You don’t make friends with salad”.

Getting there.

Please note the result of a broken strimmer around the planters! 

The "art" shot!