Plants and greenery always bring in the sense of positivity and freshness into our lives. They provide us with the life-giving oxygen, and mere looking at them can take your stresses away!
Nowadays, people are rather too busy to develop their full-fledged gardens or farm houses, and seldom have the space for the purpose of gardening, and therefore the concept of micro-gardening comes into the scene and so does the idea of the shoe planters. This approach also supports the idea of recycling in its true essence wherein we use the shoes or the boots that have withered over time or have become too small for us to wear.
We all have those overused or worn out shoes that we never use, but they can still serve you like a miniature garden. So let’s have a look at the tips and how’s of making a shoe garden for yourself.
1. The plants which require shallow depth to flourish and which can thrive in the space they get in the shoe.
2. All types of cactus, succulents, shrubs, flowering plants that require less depth to flourish.
3. The leafy vegetables can also be planted which require shallow depth.
1. A pair of old shoes or boots, whichever you have and prefer.
2. A screwdriver
3. Hammer
4. Nails
5. Acrylic sealer
6. A paintbrush
7. A wet cloth
8. Seedlings/ shrubs for planting
9. Freshly earthen soil
10. Organic manure
Take an old pair of shoes and wipe all the dirt away with a wet piece of cloth rendering it clean.
Let it dry in the Sun.
Drill holes on the sole of the shoes taking the help of a screwdriver, or if the bottom is hard, then you can use nails and hammer to make the hole.
The holes must be 1 inch apart.
These holes are very necessary when making a shoe planter, to allow the drainage of the excess water from the planter.
Then apply the acrylic sealer to all the surfaces of the shoes. Remember to apply two or three coats of the acrylic sealer. Paint the outer face of the shoe with whichever color you would like to.
You can also decorate the shoes as you like.
Tip: Applying 2-3 coats of acrylic sealer and the paint renders a long life to the shoe planter so that it is not weathered earlier.
Let the paint and the sealer on the shoes dry completely. Then fill in the shoe with the soil mix that you have made. Fill the toe area and the foot area of the shoe first and leave a space of ½ inch from the top of the boot.
Soil mix: Remember to use fresh earth soil. Use the high-quality soil in which you have the organic matter as well. You can mix a little bit of the organic manure which will help the soil in good drainage as well as provides the essential nutrients for the plant.
Then plant the cactus or the seedlings to the soil and moisten the ground by pouring a small amount of water. Keep it in the area which receives the optimum amount of sunlight during the day to ensure the healthy growth of the plant.
And so you are ready with your shoe planter. Now water it regularly, and provide it with sunlight to fulfill its requirements. And it will fill your life with its freshness and joy.