RE-IN-CANE-ATION

I have a knack for spotting good *trash* (and here, as everywhere, I'm stunned at what people are willing to throw away) and after seeing this one sitting around on the street for a few days I decided to take it home and turn it into a herb planter. I'm starting a modest tropical style vegie patch this year, and as I'm still a green thumb in training, the most sensible option is planting in containers that can be moved around the garden til I find the optimum spot.

Using old cane baskets for plants is insanely cheap and easy (plus they're lightweight), the wicker weave keeps soil from getting too waterlogged though conversely you do have to make sure not too much soil or water can make its way out. The best way to do this is by lining your basket. In this case I used palm fibre as it can be found lying around pretty much everywhere in parks and community areas around Darwin, and it's quite coarse and strong. You could just as easily use coir or an old hessian sack.

I added a bunch of tired looking herbs I've had in pots that haven't been doing too well lately (the basil has become snack food and the mint just suddenly died off for unknown reasons - I let it recover a bit more before transplanting), and put some netting over to protect them from bugs while they were establishing. It's also better to keep the basket raised up off the ground to stop the bottom of it going rotten, so I used an old tyre.

And here's the progress three months later!