Flickr Find: Wine Bottle Garden

16 by Becky Striepe on August 30, 2010

wine bottle garden

It was just about a year ago that we looked at all of the different ways you could use wine bottles and corks to fancy up the garden. One of my favorite ideas for old wine bottles is edging a garden bed with them, but concerns about the bottles breaking always made me a bit gun-shy to try it out.

You can imagine my delight when I came across the beautiful photo above on Flickr the other day! Not only has Scrappy Annie rocked the wino garden, it sounds like it's held up quite well over time. She says the bottles have been in place for 10 years, and they're still going strong!

Not only have these wine bottles stood the test of time, they're meshing well with their surroundings. Little ferns have sprung up inside of the bottles, and, "They also collect water in the dimples and the birds love to drink from them."

So delightful! It took 70 bottles to edge her little urban garden. That might sound like a lot, but once you get friends collecting it can add up quite quickly. If you want to amass bottles even faster, you could try hitting up a local bar to see if they'll let you take their empties.

Have you guys used wine bottles or corks in your garden? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by Scrappy Annie

http://mollyonmoney.wordpress.com Molly On Money

I’m re-using my wine bottles (screw tops) to house my honey from my beehives. It looks pretty and it holds a lot of honey!

http://glueandglitter.com Becky Striepe

Great idea!

Alice Hinman

that’s pretty! i have 12 raised beds made from green glass water bottles. each bed is 8′ x 4.5′. close to 1000 bottles. working on collecting for stage 2 now which is the garden’s duplication on the other side of the shed/center path. let me know if you want a pic!

http://glueandglitter.com Becky Striepe

I’d love to see a picture! How long did it take you to collect the first 1000 bottles?

Noell Rathbun

I’d love to see more pictures of this type of idea too. We like the idea of recycling, but would probably sink our bottles fairly low into the ground so they look more like glass stones and less like bottles.

http://glueandglitter.com Becky Striepe

What a great idea! So you’d want to dig holes deep enough that only maybe 1/4″ to 1/2″ was sticking out? That might make a really sweet garden path! Maybe packing the bottles full of dirt would make them a bit more sturdy?

Su

I use plastic corks in the bottom of my planters. Much lighter than gravel or broken terra cotta, especially for those large pots, and they don’t expand or attract mold like real cork.
http://dianamorgan68.wordpress.com/ Diana Morgan

We use them to edge our borders and paths, and yes, they do look pretty with ferns growing inside them. We got the idea several years ago at the international garden festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire in France. Flat bottomed ones work best otherwise they accumulate water and dirt in the dimples!
Would welcome more ideas on uses for corks.
@DMinTransition
Noell Rathbun

how do you get ferns to grow in them? Do you have pictures from your garden, Diane?
http://dianamorgan68.wordpress.com/ Diana Morgan

Hi Noell – it’s Diana BTW!
The ferns just appear – I’ll try to get a photo to post.
@DMinTransition
Noell Rathbun

Sorry, Diana! I’m still working on my first cup of morning coffee and prone to typing/name mistakes

Do ferns grow naturally in your yard? I’m wondering if they would pop up in our yard in Richmond, VA–I feel like we’d be more likely to get weeds in the bottles!
Diana Morgan

I have to say that I can’t comment on Richmond, VA (except for liking the Scarpetta stories!) as I live in Chichester, southern England!
The ferns do not grow naturally in my garden, only in the bottles!
Marcus

A little dangerous even though it looks beautiful in that light.
David Keys

I use corks as mulch. They are lighter than gravel so don’t compact the soil. I’m going to try water filled wine bottles, semi dug into the soil, to help warm it up.

Chantelle pieters

I have just made a raised bed from wine bottles filled with water, in rows of 2. i put them straight into the ground, no digging as lots of rain had just fallen. today about a third have exploded, maybe due to the heat, or because i filled the bottles right to the top and left no gap. now i have lots of broken glass to clean up and pull them all out, empty them of water and put them back in.

Becky Striepe

Oh no! It may be that you filled them too much…the water probably needs some headroom to expand/contract. You might even do it with no water at all. I’m so sorry to hear about your garden! What a mess!