Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Victory Wine Crate Herb Gardens


Red, white and blue. They are three bold colors that are fresh and strong. Three colors that I love with the added bonus that they are patriotic colors!

Victory Gardens were very popular during WWII, Americans were inspired to grow there own vegetables, joining the "Patriotic" cause.  
Picture courtesy from:1940s.org

"Families were encouraged to can their own vegetables to save commercial canned goods for the troops. In 1943, families bought 315,000 pressure cookers (used in the process of canning), compared to 66,000 in 1942."
What better than to make my own updated version of a Victory Garden, re purposing two wine crates that I picked up at a local flea market.   


Mom's little helper in the corner. 
I purchased four caster wheels/feet for each wine crate (8 total) and wood screws to attach. 
You can either attach the caster feet before or after the painting process, I chose to do it before I painted. 


Later, I covered the feet with painter's tape to complete the painting process. I primed the outside of each box. 

*Note: on the ends were they are stamped by the winery, I kept those bare so that you can still see that they were wine crates. 



Later using vinyl contact paper to make stars to adhere to the white primed box. 

I used painters tape to the other box to create the "Stripes". Using spray paint, I painted over the stars and the painters tape. 


Wait until the spray paint is "tacky" before pulling up the vinyl stars and painters tape. *Optional: You can go for a more distressed look and use sandpaper to distress the crates if you wanted




Using Minwax Helmsman Clear Spray Finish for Outdoors to seal the inside of the crates. This will take some time because you have to spray multiple layers. 


Next step was to drill drainage holes into the bottom of the crate then using a plastic wrap to keep the soil moist. 
This video below was a huge help during this process. 




And Voila! You have your updated version of a Victory Garden. I chose to fill mine with various herbs, because I kill everything else. The caster wheels make it great to move around my patio so that it can get optimal sun or move to the shade on the extremely hot day. 

The other half of my flowers. I love red, white and blue. 
Looking for some more information on Victory Gardens?

1940s.org has a great page on the history and a free ebook on starting your own Victory Garden. 

Click HERE  

Let me know if you make your own wine crate gardens!! Happy Gardening!

~Amanda

I will be entering this project for the Patriotic Challenge at:

Visit thecsiproject.com




2 comments:

  1. What a great project :) I wish wine bottles came in crates where I live!

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    1. Thanks so much!! You might try a liquor store, they might have them. :-)

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