And the rain keeps coming, in downpours, torrents. With flooding all around us, they say this is a record breaking year. It is also a garden breaking year if it keeps up. With only a couple of types drowned, the beans are surprisingly unphased and the melons and then some are trying to put on, but most plants have been stunted. Next year, perhaps. In the meanwhile, attentions have turned back toward the house between summer vacations.

Specifically the handful of flora planted have done well and while working on a few decorative projects for them it occurred to me to share a sort of addition to a previous post.

While the five gallon bucket container concept may not be the most attractive of planters, they can be both hidden and dolled up. A group of them can be corralled in lattice of equal height to the buckets, lending a quick camouflage. But if you would like to use them as a light weight container for dwarf elephant ear rather than having to dig up your bulbs each winter or lift ridiculously heavy pots, 5 gallon buckets are perfect. And all that burlap everyone goes mad for on pinterest? Equally perfect.

A rat packer of all things I might later find useful, I keep such things on hand as burlap bags for storage typically. With a batch of coffee ones recently found, I couldn’t pass up a rustic sort of look for my little elephant ears. Potato burlap sacks would look adorably country around buckets used for tomatoes and other common vegetables, but print on the burlap is by no means necessary. The burlap itself is just a sturdy, easily cleaned, and inexpensive option for jazzing up what would otherwise be a perhaps too bold statement in plastic.

As popular as it is currently, burlap is not a difficult commodity to find, but whether you use bags or yardage of burlap will determine how you tackle this project. Using cut yardage, you will be limited to wrapping your buckets and tying them at the top, but with bags you can either wrap your bucket or set it in the bag and tie the top. (I dislike the baggy look of setting the buckets in the bag, no pun intended, and like to remove the burlap regularly for airing out, so I wrap mine.) Tie a short length of rope at the neck and fold over the top and voila!