I use a lot of plastic flower planters to grow vegetables because at my house the dirt and sun don’t occur in the same place. They work great except that they come in just two colors-a kind of un-earthly green and a faux clay that I call “terra-notta.” Most of us have enough old paint lying around to pack a freight car. Break some of that out this spring and throw down some jazz into your garden. “But you can’t paint plastic,” you might argue. “Oh yes you can,” I might answer.
Here’s what you do.
The secret to painting plastic is primer. The right primer is like a good attitude. Once you got it, anything is possible. XIM and Krylon both make good primers for plastic. Paint and hardware stores have them. Clean the spider webs, dirt and chain saw fuel off your planters and prime them. Then go explore your basement and see what magical and forgotten colors you have hidden under the oil tank. The first one I’m going to try is on the pot that holds my little fig tree. First I’m painting the whole planter black. Then a little bronze metallic paint that I have from a ceiling I did, then a wash of dusty greens and some grey blue and white. The look I’m going after is a kind of verdigris, like a penny that has “rusted’ that great coppery green. For my egg plants I’m going Mardi Gras all the way--sort of Farmer John meets Lady Marmalade.
“How well will the paint hold up,” you might ask? “Beats me,” I’d answer. I’ll let you know this fall. If that plastic pot is a precious heirloom I’d be careful, but I think it will hold up fine.
Have Fun Painting
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