Transform Old Soup Cans Into An Adorable DIY Vertical Garden For Small Yards

When you're dealing with limited space for gardening, you may be tempted to put your green thumb on hiatus. Luckily, there are plenty of clever DIY hacks available allowing you to maximize your gardening space on a budget, whether you're working with a narrow side yard, a teeny flower bed, or a compact balcony. One such project lets you explore your gardening dreams, while also upcycling old tin cans into vertical garden planters. These steel cans are surprisingly versatile — they can be transformed into stunning bird feeders or a charming mason bee hotel. They're also very sturdy, making them ideal containers for small plants, herbs, or trailing vines, which can grow to wrap around a standing trellis planter. 

With just a little bit of prep and some personal creative flair, you can bring personality and color to an otherwise unused wall, railing, or fence. In fact, a vertical garden is a clever way to turn a narrow backyard into a useful space. By simply cleaning, modifying, and mounting the empty soup cans to a trellis frame, you can craft a mobile gardening wall perfect for a balcony, the side of a shed, or a fence line. 

Getting started is as simple as saving up a dozen or so cans for your garden wall. You'll need a drill and some screws or nails. Paint is optional. The best part is that the setup can be expanded over time, as you have more plants or room to grow. 

Even if you've never done a DIY gardening project before, you should find that this soup can hack is relatively painless. Once you've gathered your cans, strip away any labels and give them a thorough wash to ensure there are no food scraps. Next, drill a few small drainage holes in the bottom of your cans, being careful, as the drill may slip. These holes ensure excess moisture can escape from your plants' soil, which should help to prevent rot and mold. 

Now that you've prepped your cans for planting, you can really have some fun with customization. Decorate the exterior of your cans with a durable, moisture-resistant paint, and add plants that create a pollinator-friendly garden. Decorating could mean bedazzling the planter-cans with rhinestones, slapping on a few weatherproof vinyl stickers, or simply labelling them with your anticipated crops. Or you can let them gain a charming rusty patina, later sealing it against further degradation.

Once you're ready to plant, mount the cans to a trellis or pallet wall using heavy-duty zip ties, wire, or hooks. Or drill a hole near the top of each, and screw or nail them in place. Fill each can with a bit of high quality potting soil, and begin your small-space planting journey with ease. If you mount your cans on a trellis wall, you can expand the project in the future, using hinges to create a stylish DIY movable screen. With more cans and more frames, you can expand this vertical garden as far as your small space allows.