Upcycle a Discarded Grill/Smoker to a Fun Planter Box(updated)

So basically, one day I was driving past the dumpster for my building complex and I saw a perfectly good rusted out smoker.  I immediately knew it must be mine.  So I parked my car and walked over and drug it the block or so to my home.  It stayed on my porch for about a month until spring sprung.  Then  I was inspired to make something out of it.  So what better thing to make than something i can eat?  I decided to make a Planter Box out of it and grow some food.  I expected it to be a pain but really it was pretty easy and quick to do.  Not to mention extremely rewarding.

Step 1: Searching for the Goods

This is the most exciting part of the process because it is the most open ended.  I personally have always enjoyed a good dumpster dive.  I get the neatest, free-est, most random stuff that I can not live without from the garbage of others.  Dumpsters near apartments near the end of the month yield lots of furniture and old stuff people who are moving don't want to take with them so sometimes I will scan my city's apartment/places lots of people who rent units dumpsters at that time and sometimes the yields are epic (*cough* LA-Z-Boy leather recliner and more DVDs and CDs than I care to admit *cough*)  Usually the things aren't even actually in the dumpster, and when they are it is usually right on top and easy as cake to get to.  I found a semi rust covered smoker, but you could use a grill or old buckets or whatever you think dirt would go in and could have holes preexisting or easily added.  

Comments

[komecake]

This is awesome! We have actually been looking into getting a new grill and I never would have thought of this. Thanks for the idea. ^___^

[TheBaldFish]

Glad you liked it and glad we could help with a project idea for you!

[knife141]

I had the same idea yesterday. Got it all put together, then I saw your instructable last night! Great minds........

[TheBaldFish]

Nice! What did you plant in there? Those are very pretty flowers. Once they settle in and grow out a bit I bet that it will look really really cool. I opted for an edible theme, yours are decorative mostly I assume?

[knife141]

I used a coleus and a few mystery flowers. I asked the plant guy what would work in a shady area and just bought what he recommended. We have a lot of potted plants around our patio and have them all set up on an automatic drip irrigation system. Guess I'll need to extend this system another 30 feet to reach the old grill.

[CatTrampoline]

I especially like that it came with built-in potting shelves.

In our neighborhood, we have Big Trash day on the first Monday of the month. A fleet of metal recyclers and swap-meet pickers will roam through the neighborhood scooping up whatever they can use - recycling at its best. I've gotten some good stuff this way and re-homed objects as well.

[l8nite]

people throw away some really good stuff, from clothes with store tags still attached, unopened boxes of pots and pans to only slightly used childrens toys, even some of the "scrap" metal is actually useable outdoor furniture or in one recent case an almost new stainless steel gas barbeque that had a small dent in its lid

[CatTrampoline]

I have discarded some items that I knew would get a good home, saving the trouble of lugging it to the thrift store. At our old house, we did not have a bulk trash day, but if you had something good that wouldn't fit in the moving truck, placing it on the curb with a FREE sign would get picked up pretty quick.

When you are in the middle of moving, sometimes the stress and lack of time makes people just set out stuff in the hopes that someone will take it. My MIL brought us a carload of stuff just before we moved when I already did not have enough room in the truck. Aaugh!

What bothers me is when they bury good stuff IN the dumpster so it cannot be retrieved.

[l8nite]

A large pile on the curb is often a real honey hole for curb miners, it's unfortunate that the economy makes them more prevalent lately. A lot of people know when they are throwing away something still useful and set it either prominently on top of the trash cans as if to say "take me" or in a position that it can be seen clearly outside the cans. In the past couple of weeks I've grabbed an almost new slow cooker, a kids bike and a razor scooter, from on top of trash cans, the wheels on the scooter weren't even scuffed! One of my strangest recent finds was a 14" survival knife that the handle and half the sheath was sticking up out of the can, it's not a high quality knife and the "gear" inside the handle was gone but it appeared brand new. I can almost picture the parent saying.. NO WAY you're keeping THAT!

[l8nite]

I love it !

[TheBaldFish]

Thank you very much. It was one of those projects where you don't know you want to do it, but then you realized it was something you desperately did want to do.

[l8nite]

That's a good way of putting it.