Drawer Garden Bed

"Yellow is capable of charming God"- Vincent Van Gogh

Fall isn't even here yet, and I already have Spring on the mind- how bizarre. This is due to the deadline for planting my spring bulbs is on the way, and I want to make sure that I'm well prepared to get 'em planted!

This year will be a first for me, as I'm going to experiment with re-planting some of my old bulbs from this past Spring. I've read so many varied opinions on whether or not you can re-use bulbs, but I thought I'd give it a try and find out for myself. I made sure to make the proper preperations for the bulb re-use. Rather than dead-head and remove the stalks after my tulips had begun to die off, I moved them into a seperate container, and allowed the stalk to die off naturally. This allows the plant's energy to be routed back to the bulb, and prout life in the following year. I've been keeping them warm in that container all summer.

One frustration I face every year is finding a spot to plant the bulbs. My terracotta pots all have perennials that will be nesting for later Spring, and I typically throw the bulbs in with a plant that will bloom much later in the season, that way, the tulips will die off before the new plants emerge. But this method is getting to be somewhat tiresome...If only I had a container specifically dedicated to bulbs...

BEFORE...

Well, thankfully I have a brilliant wife, who often provides brilliant solutions to dilemmas I'm in. She reminded me of those drawers that I "stole" that were hiding on the deck (as chronicled here), waiting to be upcycled into something awesome. By drilling a couple of drainage holes and painting them bright and fun colors, I could have a permanent tulip/bulb home!

and AFTER!

I left the inside of the drawers unpainted, mainly due to a bad experience I had by painting the inside of a pot (essentially, anything I ever planted in it, died). The DIY was simple enough. I drilled a series of holes along the bottom of the drawer, painted the unit with 3 coats of Center Stage from Behr, and 1 coat of high gloss Varathane clear coat. And just for kicks, I attached some legs. We had these 4 legs kicking around from another project, and rather than throw them out, I was able to re-use them and give my garden bed some height.

and now my drawer is a happy drawer!

Like I said, this is an experimentation, and I would hate to be bulb-less this Spring. I still have 2 more drawers like this one to  The plan is to have one container with my re-used bulbs, and another with some brand new bulbs. I'm also curious to see if one will grow larger or more full than the other.