Hey guys! Sharing little plant hack that I use when I want my plants to look great, but can’t be bothered to repot them. Sorry not sorry!
You’ll be no stranger to my absolute addiction to anything and everything plant related. In fact, we’ve covered it so much here that a recent alert from Google let us know we’re #209 worldwide in the Garden and nursery category…. Which is equally awesome and hilarious. I think for me one of the main reasons I am so into plants is because they’ve turned my tiny apartment into a welcoming, happiness-inducing oasis, one which I am so happy to come home to no matter where I’ve been.
That said, maintaining and looking after plants is a lot of work, from watering, to finding the right spot to working out what’s going on when they suddenly wilt. Repotting is another task that I have to admit to not liking at all… It manages to rain on all my plant buying parades. But pots are so key to the overall aesthetics of your plant, and short of buying plants in pots already (tres expensive) you’re going to want to make a swap from that plastic brown pot you get in the nursery. But sometimes you just don’t have time for that, right? And so, without further ado, we wanted to share with you three ways to dress up your plant, when you don’t have the time or money for repotting. Or you’re just super lazy! Admittedly most of these are temporary options and not suited to long-term use, but are great if you want to wait a while for your next repotting day. Read on for more!
The Tea Towel Wrap
Got a spare tea towel lying around the house? Because that’s seriously all you need for this quick update to your plant. N0 potting mix required! Make it a nice new tea towel and you have the perfect gift wrap for your plant gift too. We’ve added a strip of cardboard to this wrap to make it nice and structured, so it has the look of a pot!
How to
You need:
- A tea towel or fabric
- A4 piece of Cardboard
- A sewing pin
How to
- Cut your cardboard in half lengthways.
- Fold your tea towel in half lengthways and place a section of cardboard on top.
- Fold the tea towel over again to cover the cardboard so you have a long strip.
- Starting at the cardboard lined end, start wrapping the pot with the tea towel, making sure to wrap the base (water catching tray) of the pot too.
- Wrap all the way around until you get to the end of the tea towel and secure from the inside with a sewing pin.
Voila!
The Basket
Ok so the plant basket isn’t a new idea, but I feel like they are seriously undervalued in terms of being a plant pot alternative, I know some people repot and then put into a basket but you seriously don’t have to. The key with this is to ensure that you first put your plant base, ie the tray that catches all the water, into the bottom of the basket, so you don’t ruin your basket when you water your plant.
Sometimes you might find that your pot edge shows above your basket rim, which is not a good look at all, so you can always trim down the edge if need be. Another tip for this one is to put your plant at eye level rather than below, such as on a shelf, so that you can only see the side of the basket and plant and not the pot inside. Stick with me if you’re after all the lazy lady hacks!
Voila!
The Dust Bag
Have you guys noticed that dust bags have become a major part of the packaging of most things you receive online? Handbags, swimwear, jewelry, so many things come in a dustbag now. Which makes sense because they’re lighter than boxes and thus less expensive and more sustainable to post, and they can also be reused which I love. It does mean though that you can sometimes be inundated with dustbags, particularly if you love online shopping like I do! Anyway, I got some lovely linen dustbags from my recent linen sheet order and realized they would be a great option for dressing up some cacti I had at home, looking sad in their brown plastic pots.
Once again it’s key that you put your pot base into the bottom of the dust bag and put the put on top, so that you don’t ruin your dustbag. You might want to remove the dustbag when you water too (or just pour carefully!).
And there you have it, three different ways to glam up your plants without having to open a single bag of potting mix. Yay! As I mentioned, these ideas also make great gift wrap if you plan on giving plants as gifts… Which you totally should!
Looking for ways to get creative with your planters? We got you! DIY Rope Planter | DIY Pumpkin Planter | Scalloped Painted Pots
I love these ideas! I have so many plants at home who need a stylish planter, so I’ll definitely try out your ideas!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Great to hear!
Your plants are sooo aesthetically pleasing I swear! I love how your plants are all different hues of dark green like wow did you plan that?! I would love to know how you choose your cactus because oh wow THEY ARE GORGEOUS !! :)xx
I definitely do look for plants in similar hues when I go shopping! 🙂
Our orange tree is just wrapped in the bin liner now… We’ve been struggling to find time to buy it a proper pot for two weeks now x.x Maybe I will wrap it into something nicer then!
Yep, it needn’t be time consuming or expensive! 🙂
Love your ideas, so original ! thank u 🙂
Oh that’s so nice of you I am so glad you like them!
Any ideas for those longer window planters? That’s what I mostly use in my apartment.
I made the basket style by wrapping and hot gluing plaited seagrass around a cardboard template, for my taller pots. It is really easy and quicker than I thought it would be to achieve. A couple of sheets of thin cardboard worked well for the height. Just wrap around pot loosely and tape in place. Add more cardboard to get the height. If you use the glue only on the seagrass you can manoeuvre the card out once your done. Hope this helps 🙂
When you say longer window planters do you mean hanging plants or planter boxes?
Planter boxes.
I love it. Simple and yet very earthy & elegant all at the same time.
Yay, that’s so nice of you to say!
where is your rug from?
I got it from Etsy!
I was going to ask the same, as I’m looking to revamp mine – would you share which seller on Etsy, please?
Thankyou love them all!
Awww thanks!
these are great ideas! definitely helpful because i am lazy from time to time and i don’t want my plants to be dead nor aesthetically pleasing.
xoxo, rae
http://www.raellarina.net/
Totally! I am definitely prone to laziness and this makes it a little bit easier!
Ah what great ideas!
So glad you like them!
Thanks so much!
Yes totally!
Me toooooo
You just gave me the perfect use for my linen order fabric drawstring bags!! Found them while having a go-through of some ‘can’t throw away, maybe I’ll use these…’ boxes – they’re bamboo and so gorgeous in neutral earth colours, now I can utilise them ~ GENIUS, thank you so much!! Johanna x
Yes I agree with you totally, I have a whole bunch of bags from different things and it’s sometimes tricky to find a use of them!
The tea towel DIY is such a cute suggestion! I love the idea of that as a gift! The whole array of different containers for your plants gives the whole collection such nice pops and plays of texture.
And when it comes to plants in baskets I seriously can never get enough. It’s always cute and way easy.
Thanks so much, its crazy easy and a nice touch too if you have a passable tea towel!
It is really a good idea…!
asmi
http://www.thepaulnyc.com