Gardening Bars And How To Make Them

Garden troughs can be used to frame your garden, or can be portable containers in case you need to move particular planters. Jade Seok/Unsplash

Garden troughs can be used to frame your garden, or can be portable containers in case you need to move particular planters. (Jade Seok/Unsplash)Garden bar, or garden trough, are long rectangular containers that are used to either frame areas in your garden, or also create planters that are portable if you need to move them at some point. We associate a garden bar as the those outdoor bars used for mixing drinks at backyard parties. But in gardening, we use the term to describe a planting container, that is long and rectangular in shape that can also be moved. A gardening bar is mostly known as a raised planter bed, used if you have limited space in your garden as well as a decoration.

A trough is a narrow, boxlike receptacle that tends to hold various items like feed or water for animals. They tend to be slightly off the ground while in use and are sometimes man-made or metal, but they can be found in stores at a price.

Making your gardening bar is a new and innovative way to spruce up your garden.

A gardening bar allows you to show off your new and colorful plants. While a traditional garden is a wonderful idea, it can be difficult to maintain. And to many, there might not be a lot of space to work with when starting a garden. These gardening bars allow those who lack space to have creativity and showcase their love for gardening.

Types of Gardening Bars

A gardening bar is a great item to have for those who do not have a lot of time and work well with plants that need a contained environment. While it may mean it is not an ideal environment for beginner gardeners, they do tend to be flexible and useful once you know what you want to grow. Here we start with items that are on the easier-to-find rustic looks to those that are more expensive, but fancier.

Starting with a cattle trough while it is obvious not many know where to get one, they are available in local home improvement stores and online. Depending on the size and depth there are many options available for purchase. They can also be known as stock tanks, and you can find many that range from various price points. By creating cattle trough planters you can bring a rustic, farm aesthetic by filling it with vines and longleaf plants that can take in the depth and length of a cattle trough.

Many kinds of troughs or bars are available, long or short rectangles, taller ones to accommodate deeper roots, and such.

Chicken feeders are also a great way to create your gardening bar. There are various types of chicken feeder but for this purpose, it is useful to use the long trough. Chicken feeders tend to be replaced constantly so if possible you can ask a local farmer to purchase or if they are willing to give you their old chicken feeder trough. If you happen to get the long chicken trough you may notice they are smaller and narrow in comparison to the cattle trough. Chicken troughs are at least 6-8 inches deep, so it is recommended that only smaller plants are used. Small batches of flowers and succulents are perfect for chicken feed planters, but if they are deeper even radishes or short-stemmed vegetables can be grown.

While it may seem unbelievable, an old toolbox is great to use as a small garden bar planter. Not only does an old toolbox easy to find, if you find an older rusted one it can give off a great rustic and vintage vibe to any garden when displayed. Using a toolbox is quite easy, add some pebbles to allow easier drainage, soil, and display a good amount of succulents. With a simple box like this is can be easy to create and showcase anywhere even inside a home.

On to the much more difficult DIY gardening bars, these bars are usually made with items you find when renovating your home. Items like rain gutters and PVC pipes are not necessarily common, but they can be if you are doing some big renovations that call for an extra pipe or gutter. With this, while they take more construction and building into them they can create a very unique look into your home garden.

Various styles of planters can be used to plant companion plants that support each other as they grow. Annie Spratt/Unsplash

For example, with rain gutters, you can create an “over the rail,” a fence decoration, or even a wall of gutters. Many of these gutters tend to have a metal look to them but once decorated and painted to your liking they can be used as railing planters. Because gutters are a bit on the bigger side, they tend to hold various types of plants. From herbs to vegetable gutters can be useful as well as sustainable.

If gutters are not an option there are even PVC pipes that were transformed into gardening bars. These PVC pipes are quite extraordinary, while it takes quite a bit of work to build and create you can make this to be very self-sustainable. Depending on how you use them you can stack each pipe and create a wall that can not only grow fresh fruit and vegetables but can self irrigate as well as save space in your ever-growing garden.

The final type of gardening bars can be seen everywhere, these are concrete, wood, and steel planters. These bring a more modern and industrial look that can be seen outdoors in apartment complexes and businesses. But there are smaller versions as well that can be added to your home.

Concrete and steel planters can come in various forms and shapes. They tend to be taller, wider, and a lot bigger which can be very flexible for any plant you wish to add. They also come in various styles, meaning they add a creative architecture look to your garden. While these gardening bars tend to have more maintenance, they bring a great look anywhere you put it.

Gardening planters have become a wonderful addition. And gardening enthusiasts everywhere are loving the various styles they introduce. From their industrial to rustic aesthetics they can bring a whole new look into any garden. While some may be difficult to find or learn how to create, they are a wonderful addition for anyone.