When your old metal mop bucket has come to the end of its days with age and leaks, recycle it into a beautiful and whimsical fall planter.

Here's What You Need:

1. Old mop bucket (milk churns, saucepans, fish kettles, or soup pots also work well)
2. Electric drill
3. Pebbles, or broken pottery chips
4. Ornamental corn, wheat stalks, miniature scarecrow pick, mini pumpkins, or gourds
5. Plants for sun or shade

Plants for a sun bucket:

• Mums (Tall)
• Purple Angelonia (Tall)
• Ornamental Peppers (Med.)
• Dwarf Rudbeckia (Med.)
• Lobelia 'Crystal Palace' (Trailing)
• Osteospermum 'Orange' or 'Lemon Symphony' (Trailing)

Plants for a shade bucket:

• Coleus (Tall)
• New Guinea Impatiens (Tall)
• Kalanchoe (Tall)
• Cyclamen (Whites & Purples) (Med.)
• Crossandra Yellow or Orange (Med)
• Variegated Ivy (Trailing)
• Bacopa (Trailing)

Drill drain holes in the bottom of the bucket. Place pebbles or pottery chips in the base for drainage. Add the potting mix to within 2" of the top of the bucket.

Plant taller flowers (see parentheses above) in the middle or toward the back. Add medium sized plants around the taller flowers. Then add the trailing plants around the edges. Fertilize and place in the sun or shade. Add a tiny pumpkin or gourd along the edge and place small wheat stalks in the soil. For even more whimsy, add a welcoming mini-scarecrow to the center.

These buckets will give you long lasting color right up to Thanksgiving. You can even bring them indoors (for one day) to help "autumnize" your holiday decorating!