Cinder Blocks Are The New Black

I have collected quite a reputation for loving to glue shit to other shit. I'd be worried if it wasn't 100% true, 100% of the time.

"Hi. Yes, I have some shit to glue
to other shit. Uh, do you have time?"

It all came about after I saw the most adorable cinder block planter. It was at a local restaurant where GG and I were having lunch.  I ended up chatting with our waitress about how dang cute it is, when it was revealed that, in fact, our waitress had created it!  I asked her for the deets and ta-da! I knew I had to make one of my own.

The waitress' was a single cinder block "liberated" from an old barn. It has creamy paint that was chipping away to reveal the cinder block underneath.  The waitress saw that block and knew with a little glossy sealant (to make it resto-safe), she would have an amazing planter on her hands.  I wish I'd taken pictures, because it's super SUPER cute.

I couldn't go hunting on abandoned farms after lunch, though, because I was taking my son to his BFF's house for a play date. It was the first time Kiddo #2 had played at his BFF's house, so this was a big deal.  ... Only I couldn't stop obsessing about how cute the cinder block planter is.

Apparently my incessant talking about it got into BFF's mom's head, too, because I got a phone call 2 weeks later saying she (Kris) was ready to make the cinder block planter, so when can I bring my son back so the kids can play together?  Yes, I know you saw the truth there. It was a craft-date for the moms and a play-date for the kids.

Smarty pants. :) 

Only-- here's the best part-- where I was content with just creating a single cinder block planter, Kris' had completely run with the idea.  And MAN was it a great run she went on!

No kidding, I turned into her driveway, saw the structure below and squealed with joy.  I mean, really? It's gorgeous already, with no plants at all!

I love the Tetris look of her set up! Genius!

Materials

Several cinder blocks

Paint (optional but super cute)

Ziploc Bags (gallon)

Hot Glue Gun and sticks

Scissors

Stones

Potting Soil 

Plants

First, Kris painted the cinder blocks black.  I thought they'd be more porous than they were-- all these blocks took maybe 1/3 of a gallon of paint. She did it probably a week prior to the plant-a-palooza, but you could paint yours 24 hours in advance.  I keep wondering what a glossy turquoise would look like, or yellow? Hmmm... 

Then, she assembled them on top of a large wooden board in her front yard. The board is great for creating balance, but I'm sure you could put the blocks directly on the ground.

Ziploc baggie inside waiting
to be glued and trimmed.

Then we hot glued a Ziploc freezer bag (gallon size) inside the hanging blocks to create a bottom.  I tried to glue them so that even when they were full of soil, they wouldn't be visible from the front of the gorgeous structure.

I trimmed the top of the gallon bag off so it wasn't visible from the top of the structure, either.  

Ready for some plants!

I added 5 stones to the bag, and then filled the bag with soil. If you're new to planting stuff, you add the rocks to the bottom of any pot to avoid mould growth.

For Kris' set-up, I had to glue 3 bags to fill the three hanging sides.    

Oh, and for the taller/longer "tubes," Kris added some foam squares to those bottoms. It was a great trick, actually. I'm sure you could use the baggies, but the foam was quicker and faster for the other cinder blocks, since they all had a sorta-bottom created by the block beneath it.  I dunno any other way to explain it. Just make your own and you'll go, "Oooh."  when you get to this point. Again, the baggies would still be fine here. 

Anyway, after we got the holes filled with soil, we went for a walk around her property looking for appropriate perennials.  Oh, and it took my father saying "Perpetuity means forever, Perennials mean forever." for me to finally know the difference between Annuals and Perennials. Whatever.

Gorgeous, am I right?!

So we plucked up some Hens and Chicks (centre), Lambs Ear (right) and Cactus (left).

Oh, and yeah, be really super careful moving cacti, ok? Alternatively, you could have toothpaste-consistency baking soda and water in a cake pan ready to lay your hands in if you decide you're "tougher" than "a dumb plant."  But, since you probably won't be tougher than a cactus, I'd suggest just being careful and wearing gloves. 

Once we got the holes filled with plants that Kris won't have to maintain, I hit the road. Nap time was calling for our three-year-olds (hers seemed to be doing better than mine, but both were pretty sleepy-eyed and combative).  

Now, for the record, there's method to my madness: we chose perennials because they'll look great all year long, and will virtually take care of themselves.  But if you want to put Gerbera daisies or ... any other annual, brightly coloured flower, it would undoubtedly look amazing.  Oh! And ivy would be great, cascading down the blocks, too.  So.  Many.  Options!

From the top. 

The top holes will be filled with some grasses
that hadn't been purchased yet. 

It turned out super SUPER great-- and it only took about 2 hours to glue, hunt for plants, re-plant them in the structure and be done.  Totes doable, yes?

Then hop to it!