Vintage Potato Planter Flower Pot

June 14, 2023

I love picking up old farm tools at thrift shops and garage sales. This is a vintage potato planter.

I hoped that I could make it into a fun flower pot for my junk garden! Scroll on down to see the process and completed project, along with 8 other projects from my blogging friends with the Thrift Store Decor Team.

(When you click on the bold Amazon, Old Sign Stencils or Dixie Belle Paint Company affiliate links you will be taken to the products I use for this project. If you order it does not change the price or service at all. As an Amazon Affiliate, Old Sign Stencils Affiliate or Dixie Belle Paint Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

My options to display the potato planter were either hanging by the handle or leaning up alongside some of my other junk.

Here the planter is braced by the barn door and the farm tool.

Photo of a vintage potato planter tube with hardware cloth.

Next, I had to come up with a way to hold dirt in the long cylinder pipe. First, I tried to stick a can inside, then a plastic bottle. Neither of these options worked, and I debated cutting out a round piece of styrofoam to stick in the hole and push down a ways with a broom handle.

What did I do? I cut three squares of hardware cloth. Hardware cloth is usually used in fencing or animal cages, etc. The squares were folded together and pushed into the tube.

Since the tube was quite narrow, the hardware cloth was pushed in past the handle bottom to allow for more dirt.

I then cut a square of coco liner, and shoved that in the tube all the way to the hardware cloth.

Then I filled the tube with potting soil, leaving room for a plant. I'm pretty sure the hardware cloth won't move. The dirt is not very heavy.

Photo of a plant marker from a Firehouse Red Verbena.

A Firehouse Red Trailing Verbena was chosen to fill the potato planter.

I had to form the roots from the 4" square pot to fit into the tube, but it fit pretty good without removing much of the dirt and roots.

Photo of a red trailing verbena planted in a vintage potato planter.

Here is the new potato planter/verbena pot!

I love red verbena and red geraniums with old rusty farm junk.

Pin for later!

Now on to the Thrift Store Decor Team's monthly upcycling party projects! Be sure to click on the links below. You won't want to miss the chair frame, round table, storage chest, embroidery hoop, milk can, plant stand, basket, and wire rack upcycles.