DIY A Rustic Tiered Herb Garden By Repurposing Your Old Drawers

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There are all kinds of household items you can repurpose as garden decor, especially bottles, jars, and tarnished silverware. You can even upcycle plates into adorable garden edging. Diverting items like these from landfills benefits the planet, and reusing materials you already have can stretch your household budget. Old furniture that pairs beauty with function is a valuable tool for boosting your yard's character. Even if your retired chest of drawers is looking pretty battered, it can add rustic charm to your garden as a miniature raised bed. Drawers made of wood or metal are often durable enough to handle outdoor conditions, and stacking them adds a vertical dimension to your garden. They're also portable, unlike planter boxes that are large and heavy. Tiered stacks of drawers are ideal for herbs and other shallow-rooted plants, especially those you bring indoors when winter weather is approaching.

When selecting drawers for this project, it's important to assess whether they contain hazardous substances. Determining what the drawers are made of and what kind of paint or stain covers them can help you decide how to proceed. Herbs you plan to eat shouldn't touch surfaces filled with lead, formaldehyde, or other toxic additives. Likewise, you don't want plastic drawers leaching chemicals into the plants' soil. Certain types of plastic are more likely to do this than others. Not sure if questionable chemicals are present? To be on the safe side, line the drawers with grow bags or place plant pots in the openings. Pots are especially easy to manage since you don't have to dig up their residents if you want to rearrange them.

Arranging the drawers so they resemble a staircase is one of the easiest methods of making a tiered planter. Have a step stool available for repurposing? Place a drawer on each level, plus an additional drawer at its base. Old risers could also be used in this way. To create a two-tier planter, elevate one drawer on a platform such as a milk crate, then place a second drawer in front of it at ground level. 

If your herbs live outside for most of the year, it may be worthwhile to turn cinder blocks into adjoining "steps" and put a drawer atop each. Want a tiered herb garden for your kitchen? Pair small drawers with pantry organizers such as those in the Sibao two-pack of kitchen cabinet storage shelves. For extra stability, screw the drawers together. This is especially useful if you want to position some drawers at jaunty angles to give the planter an asymmetrical look. To further customize your planter, adorn the exterior with DecoArt Patio Paint or another non-toxic weatherproof paint.

Once you've decided how to build tiers, pour container-friendly soil into pots or grow bags and then tuck them into the drawers. Or you could also add soil and drainage holes to the drawers if you've determined that this is safe. Consider displaying herbs of different colors, heights, or textures in your planter. Include rosemary to keep bugs out of your garden, or try attracting cardinals with herbs such as dill and fennel. If the drawers are at least a foot deep, you could even mix in carrots, radishes, or other vegetable plants with deeper roots.