Colander Hanging Planter

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series hosted by Igor and Judith to encourage us all to bring a little more green into our lives. Each month they, plus many bloggers worldwide, share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks.

February’s theme is hanging planters which are a big trend right now but I remember their last outing in the 70’s – mainly hanging by means of macramé holders. Now I did google macramé but it looked like some form of slow torture, involving a lot of fiddly knots, (no, not Fifty shades of Grey) so decided to give that a miss and think of other ways around hanging my lovely greenery.

Copper and brass are a great contrast to greenery and as warm metals are trending I thought I would use my fab copper colander as a hanging planter, and my goodness was it easy to do, no Girl Guide knots for me!

Here’s what you’ll need:

> A length of brass chain (length will depend on where you’d like the colander to hang, but just bear in mind you’ll need to use at least 2 or 3 lengths of chain so that it sits straight!

> A large hook to hang the chain from the ceiling

> A pack of three small hooks to attach the chain to the colander (I bought all of the above from a local hardware store)

> A colander

> Moss (I tend to buy mine on Amazon)

> Soil

> As well as plants (of course!)

Here’s how to make the hanging planter:

1.  Line the colander with moss.

2.  Cut up a bin bag (or a purpose made hanging basket liner) and a place this over the top of the moss.  Doing this will prevent the soil from spilling out of the colander.  Then puncture holes in the bin bag to allow the water to drain away.

3.  Fill the colander with soil.

4.  Then for the fun bit of planting the colander with gorgeous plants!  I used three small ivies, a white hyacinth bulb, a frothy fern and a small white hellebore for a lovely spring planter.  I also added some more moss around the plants to cover the soil.

5.  I then cut the chain into three equal lengths.  If you don’t have wire cutters, ask them to do this for you in the shop where you bought the chain.

6.  Placed the 3 smaller hooks into the colander and slotted one piece of chain onto each hook.  I then attached my ceiling hook and hung it up!

Now, I also should mention that the attachment of the ceiling hook will depend on your ceiling and whether there’s a joist that you can attach it to.  There’s a really handy how to here.  But if you’re not sure, check with an expert as to the best way to do this.

When watering, either take down and nest the colander in either the sink, or a bucket until the water has drained away.  Or water in-situ, but place a large bowl or bucket underneath until the water stops dripping.  OR for a really hassle free shot of greenery, you could always opt for faux plants instead!

And what a beauty she is hanging above another gorgeous fern and a sprig of blossom, and a lovely way to bring spring indoors and celebrate the passing of winter. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody else’s creations for this months’ Urban Jungle Bloggers theme and I am sure there will be a lot of impressive macramé from you talented bloggers out there.

Jacqui x

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Photography: Amelia Brooks/ Styling: Jacqui and Amelia Brooks

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