Barrels used as planters and unique furniture: recycle them to decorate the garden with a charming, rustic touch

Wooden wine barrels have always been amongst the most coveted objects by anyone who loves to decorate their environment in a rustic style: both in home and, even more so, in the garden, barrels are objects that lend themselves to becoming an element that furnish an area in a beautiful and useful way. They can easily become very scenic planters, but with a little work you can also make furniture or even fountains from them. And if their iron retaining bands remain unused (or are not needed) in setting the barrels up, you can find creative use for these metal hoops too.

There are many DIY projects to decorate the garden with barrels, and they can also be adapted to using those of different sizes: perhaps you can use not only wine barrels but also those smaller ones which were used to store some sort of liqueur. Take a look at the ideas below, and you might find yourself looking to buy old barrels online in a matter of minutes:

Cut in half, barrels take on the shape of vats (and in fact, even these are perfect for many of the garden furnishing projects): then just fill them with soil, provide some drainage holes, and they are ready to welcome your plants.

They are also very beautiful for creating scenographic settings in which the container seems to be pouring the flowers onto the ground.

Imagine aligning them along the sides of a pathway: they become a multitude of flower boxes one after the other that you can use for ornamental plants, but also for herbs and some kind of vegetables: in this way even a narrow, long courtyard can be turned into a green corner that is easy to manage.

If you want to plant a fairly tall plant / tree (always check if can tolerate restricted root growth), it is very attractive to cover the exposed soil with moss!

A planter that is also a fountain: a perfect combination if you want to plant aquatic species of plants. If, on the other hand, you would like to decorate the fountain using (perhaps along the edges) sedums, echeverias or tall succulents, you will have to make sure that the jet of water ends up in a separate point and away from the tray with the soil and into which the plants have their roots.

Multiple barrels (or wooden vats) arranged on a slope, so that one pours water into the one below it - it's a lovely cascading fountain.

The larger and taller ones can be turned into truly irresistible outdoor tables.

You could also use them as a base into which you can insert a pole that will hold up lights in the garden.

And then there are those who convert them into unique braziers.

As we said, if by chance the iron hoops are left over after transforming the wooden barrels into outdoor furniture, you can get creative by using them as decorative sculptures.

Have you ever used wooden barrels to decorate your garden?