Get Creative With Painted Wooden Box Plant Containers

Do you want to add a pop of color and personality to your garden, patio, or indoor plant decor? Painted wooden crates offer customizable, budget-friendly containers to display your botanical creativity. From vibrant petunia pots to rustic herb planters, painted wooden boxes unlock a world of green thumb possibilities.

These versatile wooden crates provide both form and function when it comes to housing your beloved foliage. Their slatted construction allows for drainage while the paint injects cheer. You can opt for a coordinated solid hue or intricate patterns for extra flair. Stack painted boxes in tower formations to save space or scatter solo pieces for an eclectic look. Whatever your style, painted wooden boxes offer the ideal blend of practicality and panache.

Determine Size Based on Plant Selection

When embarking on your painted wooden box planter project, the first consideration is sizing. Carefully measure your available space while also factoring in the type of plant intended for each box. Think about maximum heights your vegetation may reach along with the necessary width to support healthy growth.

Consider height and width needs

Ground plants, including trailing vines, broader leafed options, and low flowering varieties will thrive in wider, shallower painted wooden boxes. Opt for more narrow and vertically oriented containers when dealing with towering sunflowers, climbing rose bushes, or wispy bamboos.

Account for depth for roots

While flowers and slender green onions may flourish in a 6-inch deep box, fruiting plants like tomato vines and berry bushes require much further soil capacity for their extensive root networks. Generally, a minimum 12-inch crate depth suits most edible plant choices.

Small boxes for herbs and flowers

For petite potted accents, mini 1-foot wooden crates painted in lively colors make perfect homes for herbs, succulents, violets and daisy chains along a windowsill. Their trimmed down size also easily fits on porch rails or patio table tops to cultivate a cheery mood.

Larger boxes for vegetables and bushes

If your green thumb leans more toward vegetable gardening or fruit cultivation, paint up some wooden storage crates at least 2-feet wide and 1-foot deep. Hardy crops like cabbage, spinach, lettuce, kale and various juicy tomatoes will flourish with the extra footage. For blueberry bushes, dwarf citrus trees, and vibrant lilacs, painted wooden boxes measuring 3-feet by 2-feet by 1-foot supply suitable space.

Prepare the Wood Boxes for Planting

To transform wooden crates into hospitable homes, the boxes need proper preparation before housing vibrant greenery and blossoms. Follow these tips to get your painted planters planting-ready.

Create drainage holes

Perhaps the most vital step when prepping wooden boxes for planting purposes is drilling ample drainage holes. Without proper drainage, roots suffocate and decay causing vegetation to wither. Use a power drill with an 1/8-inch bit to bore holes spaced every 6 inches across the entire crate bottom. Don't forget to puncture the sides an inch up to further facilitate drainage.

Add optional plastic liners

For extra protection from potential wood rot, cut plastic basket liners to neatly fit inside your painted wooden planters. The waterproof barrier shields the crate's vulnerable interior slats from constant soil and moisture contact while retaining planting layers. Flexible plastic also easily pops out for box cleaning or relocation.

Include drainage material at bottom

Before filling with potting soil, lay an inch or two of drainage material across the base of your drilled wooden planter. Pea gravel, crushed stones, bark chips, perlite chunks and other coarse media prevents soil from washing out holes while improving hydration flow. Top off this drainage layer with scrap screen, burlap or landscape fabric to block particles from filtering upward into the dirt.

Painting & Embellishing Wooden Box Planters

Here comes the fun part - decking out those neutral wooden crates in vibrant hues and patterns! But before breaking out the paint brushes, adhere to a couple preparatory guidelines for optimal results.

Clean boxes prior to painting

Eliminate anyresidual grunge or grease from your wooden planks with mild dish soap, warm water and a stiff scrub brush. This removes grime that could hinder proper paint adhesion. Fully dry boxes before coating.

Choose outdoor paint for durability

While virtually any properly primed paint works for short-term indoor projects, the high UV exposure, weather fluctuations and soil contact inherent to outdoor planters demand extreme coat durability. Opt for specialty formulations like exterior porch and floor paint or chalky finishing paints.

Solid colors vs. patterns and textures

What's your decorative wooden crate vision? Solid stains in apple red, cobalt blue and buttercream instantly brighten. Free-hand murals depict lively garden scenes. Or use stencils to create crisp geometric patterns like argyle and harlequin diamonds. Decoupage your boxes by gluing colorful scrapbook paper cutouts in patchwork designs before coating with varnish.

Fun embellishment ideas: stencils, decoupage, faux finishes

Elevate your artistic expression by incorporating additional decorative detailing like hand-painted vines, dimensional bees and butterflies or glued-on gears, measuring tape and faux drawer knobs that play into the storage crate origins. The options for personalized touches are boundless.

Allow paint to fully dry before planting

This is crucial! While paint may feel dry to touch in mere hours, full curing and outgassing of volatile compounds takes several days to weeks depending on formula, humidity and ventilation. Planting in boxes with uncured paint risks toxicity accumulation within foliage and soil. Patience pays off so your garden grows healthy.

Arrange Your Painted Wooden Box Gardens

Thoughtfully arranging your customized wooden planters prevents a chaotic jumble of mismatched colors and sizes. Try these visually cohesive designs.

Uniform look with same-sized boxes

For a clean, sophisticated appearance, paint multiple wooden crates in the same bold color family with identical dimensions. Create rhythmic rows upon a deck or porch unified through color repetition. Or collectively cluster boxes in geometric formations - squares, rectangles, triangles or diamonds.

Mix colors and sizes for eclectic style

Conversely, seamlessly blend wooden crates of varying dimensions and multi-hued colors for an intentionally collaged, eclectic showcase. Overlap crates slightly, angularly tilt some pieces, and remove a side plank from others to add artistic interest.

Stack boxes to save space

Vertically stacking painted wooden crates conserves precious square footage while also lending height and drama to an outdoor space. Place the largest, deepest boxes on bottom tiers since height increases weight and pressure. Secure towering columns with angled shelving brackets across back walls and flexible twist ties lacing front to back box corners.

Wood and metal brackets connect stacked boxes

Fortify stacked wooden planter towers using rustic wood cross beams screwed in horizontal and vertical formations across abutting side and back walls. For added anti-tip support, drive galvanized steel electric conduit, rebar or plumber's tape into the ground behind towers at slight outward angles then secure to boxes using pipe straps or metal L-brackets.

Planting Your Painted Wood Planters

Once you paint enlivens the once mundane wooden crates, it's time to sprinkle in some flora! Stock your customized containers with dense greenery using these planting tips.

Fill bottom with drainage material

Before adding soil, lay down an inch layer of irrigation boosting pea gravel, bark, perlite or compost over box drainage holes to prevent blockage issues.

Use quality potting mix for plants

Wooden planter boxes drain rapidly so require a moisture retention potting medium to support healthy root development and nutrients. Avoid 100% compost or garden soil which easily compacts. Instead fill boxes 2/3 full with a premium potting mix blended with compost or coconut coir plus a slow-release fertilizer like worm castings or flower tone.

Arrange plants attractively

Get creative, embracing unique color combinations and asymmetrical height arrangements. Mass taller architectural foliage or flowering focal points within box centers surrounded by lower spillers like sweet potato vine, petunias and creeping Jenny along walls to cascade over edges.

Consider sunlight needs for plant placements

Site sunlight-demanding vegetables and roses in South-facing boxes while positioning shade tolerant ferns, impatiens and begonias upon North sides. Direct hot Western sun often requires adjustable shade cloths to prevent leaf scorch.

Caring for Planted Wooden Boxes

With your living artistry displayed, keep plants thriving with attentive care and occasional rejuvenating touch ups.

Consistent watering and fertilizing

Since slatted wooden boxes lack any insulation, planted soil dries out rapidly. Check daily to ensure adequate moisture, increasing watering frequency during hot spells. Every few weeks, feed plants with water soluble fertilizers or nutrient spikes pushed into the soil.

Prune overgrown plants as needed

Keep vigorous growers like sweet potato vine and black-eyed Susans tamed by regularly pinching off long trailing stems or cutting back leggy branches to side shoots further down. This shapes a fuller silhouette.

Repaint faded boxes as desired

Depending on your initial paint type and quality, environmental factors eventually cause coatings to fade, peel or develop unwanted textural changes like chalkiness and cracking. Spot touch up flaws or entirely refresh color every year or two using compatible paint.

Repurpose boxes for other uses if no longer planting

The versatility of wooden storage crates ensures that even after retiring from planting duty, the boxes enjoy second lives housing gardening tools, firewood kindling, kid's toys or pool floaties and more. Simply refresh worn paint before putting to new tasks.

Inspiring Painted Wooden Planter Ideas and Inspiration

Need a painted wooden box muse to spark your planting palette ideas? Here are a few standout looks sure to ignite excitement.

Vibrant patios and porch decor

Enliven outdoor lounge areas by clustering painted wooden planters in coordinating colors like red, yellow and turquoise loaded with billowy petunias, grape ivy vines and bold crotons. Use white painted boxes as neutral contrast filled with purple fountain grasses, pink geraniums or red canna lilies.

Whimsical herb and vegetable gardens

Get playful, painting wooden crates in lively watercolors like cherry red, seafoam green and sunny yellow then stenciling on ties, leaves, lady bugs and bees. Fill with homegrown essentials like basil, thyme, sage, garlic chives, spinach, carrots and beans.

Eclectic indoor plant arrangements

Unleash creative freedom when decorating interior spaces with painted wooden box gardens. Stack a trio of differently sized crates upon a table, painting each an intense accent like tangerine, hot pink and lime then plant trailing pothos, heartleaf philodendron and spider plants.

Painted wooden crates unlock immense style and planting potential whether displayed outdoors or in. With just simple boxes, a couple cans of paint and a vibrant imagination, anyone can craft stunning planter gardens brimming with botanical allure. Visually express yourself while getting your hands dirty cultivating beautiful posies, food and other fabulous foliage.

So grab some old wooden crates and paintbrushes then get busy concocting fabulous living art! Those blank slatted canvases overflow with creative possibilities for your green thumb masterpieces.