A little ray of sunshine ...

There is nothing like a little sunshine to encourage a body to go outside and plant something is there? It has been a perfect Spring day  here today so I decided to plant out some herb seedlings and have a general post-Winter tidy up of the pot plants. I really let things go over the Winter months. It is a mess. Just look at this ...

That my friends is what happens when good intentions - I'll clean those and put them in the recycling bin - do not come to fruition. Eewwwwww!  Yet I knew there had to be a use for so many cans - they are amazing objects really and it seems a shame to waste them. Firstly of course they had to be cleaned. I got to work on them with hot soapy water and a scrubber sponge. I wore good, thick rubber gloves too 'cos the inside rim can be a bit sharp. They came up a treat - nice and shiny.

Removing the glue used to adhere the label was a bit of an effort - I used eucalyptus oil which worked well but it still requires a bit of elbow action. I decided to use these to pot up some leftover seedlings. My mother-in-law was an excellent gardener - she even managed to grow a banana palm in the Adelaide Hills - and it bore fruit! She was a post-war migrant and never wasted anything so she would use whatever containers were at hand to strike plants etc. Yogurt pots, margarine containers - you name it she would whack a plant in it. Her trick apparently was to put a piece of sponge in the bottom of the container and then top it up with soil. So I figured I would follow suit - I hacked up an old sponge, filled to pot with soil and planted my little herbs etc.

I will let you know how they grow. I am guessing the tins might get a bit rusty over time but I think that would add to their appeal. I s'pose you could give them a coat of clear varnish if you wanted them to stay shiny ...
These would be nice to give away. As a final gift-giving touch, I added a label.

The only truly difficult part of this project was seeing the look of disappointment on my dog's face every time I came inside with an empty can of dog food!

Poor old Rex - he has to wait until dinner time!