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Recycled Bird Bath Becomes Garden Plant Stand

This recycled bird bath is now being put to use as a great looking plant stand. You’ll never believe how it came to be!

My husband is the king of finding things that I can recycle to use in my garden. Last year, it was a set of musical instruments that made a great garden display.

This year it is a whole host of things that I am incorporating as the weeks go by into one of my garden beds. 

This recycled bird bath becomes a garden plant stand with a few neat DIY tricks. thegardeningcook.com

We never seem to let an item go to waste if there is any use for it in my garden. Recycling is a small step that we can take to protect the environment at home.

This Recycled Bird Bath is now doing double duty as a plant stand in my test garden.

Richard was taking the dogs for a walk recently and saw what looked to him like a bird bath in the near by woods.  He brought the dogs home and went into the woods to see what shape it was in.  

Unfortunately for us, it was broken in half and had no top.  

Not only that, it had a big chunk out of the broken area so the top part would not balance on the bottom.  Undaunted and up to a challenge he came and got me to help him drag it out the woods.

Let me tell you, readers, you haven’t seen anything until you have watched us pushing a 50 pound bird bath, UP A HILL, a  heavily wooded area filled with water run off holes every where that you want to place your feet!

It was all we could do to lift it, let alone bring it up to the road. But hubbie loves to please me, so we somehow managed.

He did most of the heavy lifting. I supervised. 😉  When we got it up and back to the yard, it looked like this.broken bird bath

There was no way that the top would balance on the bottom because of the way that it was broken.  Fortunately for us, there was a hole right down through the center of both pieces.  

Unfortunately for us, they were different sizes and the bottom one had a lot of extra cement in it.broken bird bath bottom

With a bit of chiseling and measuring, we got this project going.  We tested several supports to hold it in one piece, but ended up using a piece of 2″ x 2″ wood.

Our foster dog Layla seems totally disinterested in our recycled bird bath project! I can just see her thinking “not again!”Layla approves!

Since the wood was square and the holes were round and slightly smaller, Richard got out his saw and electric planer.  

We only had to sand one side, since only the bottom was too small for the wood. Lucky us!

sanding the pole to fit

Next step was to scrape out the extra cement from the bottom  We tried a variety of tools, but ended up using a hammer and chisel to do the job.  

The wood was measured, cut, and then was placed in the top part of the bird bath.

assembling the stand

A quick flip of the top section and the two pieces are finally together.   Finished plant stand needs cementThe only thing left to do to finish this recycled bird bath was to mix some quick drying concrete and patch the seam so it would look more tidy.  

Who would have ever thought that this plant stand started its life laying at the bottom of a ravine in the woods, broken in half?Re-purposed birdbath becomes a garden plant standThis garden bed has several other pieces of re-purposed junk that coordinate well.   This curved piece of concrete came from the garden of a lady that my husband helped out as part of a landscaping job last summer.  

It looks great as a garden ornament with the violas planted in front of it.  

The only thing left to do now is to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the view of my recycled bird bath from my garden bench!Garden art

Have you decorated your gardens in a trash to treasure way?  What ideas do you have to share?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

To see more garden art projects, please visit my Pinterest board. And if you like recycled projects be sure to have a look at my cement blocks raised garden bed.

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Jennifer romaine

Wednesday 4th of May 2016

Such a great way to recycle something that is interesting to look at! I wonder if you could use it for a gazing ball in the garden too. Thanks for linking it up this week to Dishing It & Digging It!

Jacki

Tuesday 3rd of May 2016

You have him well trained! What a great find, and congrats in salvaging something illegally dumped into the ravine.

Carol

Wednesday 4th of May 2016

You have no idea what people will dump around here. At one time, one side of the street was all woods. It was a lovely walk. TWICE people dumped sofas on the side of the road!!

Nena

Monday 2nd of May 2016

What a beautiful end results!! I especially loved the doggie photo bomb;)

Carol

Monday 2nd of May 2016

Yes...all that work and she could have cared less. LOL Carol

Lori

Monday 2nd of May 2016

This is a great idea! Love it! Would you be willing to share this at our link party?

http://www.thestonybrookhouse.com/2016/05/dishing-it-digging-it-link-party-94.html

Sandi

Monday 2nd of May 2016

I love it! My guy is always bringing me things like that as well. I just never know what I'll go home to find. It's just adorable.

Carol

Monday 2nd of May 2016

Thanks Sandi. Last year it was a set of musical instruments. They turned out pretty well too!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission from the sale, but the price is the same for you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."