A Spanner in the Works

The Old Toolbox Planter

One of my sayings is “If it can hold dirt, you can plant in it.”  and I’m always looking for different things to plant in.   During a clean out of the basement tool bench I came across this old metal blue tool box.

an old toolbox ready to convert to a planter

It was nearly impossible to move when filled with tools.  When you push down on the handle it opened up to revel 5 compartments.  After all these years it didn’t work properly and needed a lot of pushing and pulling to get it all the way open.

ann old toolbox ... dirt added ... plants added ... a tool box planter

But when it was open I could see the possibilities.  It got filled with dirt and then I started planting … succulents and sedums from the garden.  There are always plenty of extras of those kinds of plants.  Then I started adding a few tools as after all, it was a tool box.

an old metal toolbox converted to a planter

There are some hens & chicks, creeping jenny, stonecrop and even a bit of wandering jew.

Back to the title of this post.  Are you familiar with the English saying “throw a spanner in the works”?  It means to do something that causes something not to work.  I added a few spanners to this box.  A spanner is a wrench for those that don’t know the term.  Well in this case, the spanner in the works means the box won’t work as a tool box any more but it makes a fantastic planter.

garden whimsy at https://craftygardener.ca

see more garden whimsy

Comments are closed.