I hear wheels turning. No smell of smoke yet.

Lynn - This is so up my alley. LOL. I love this idea. These would be so light to move around too. You can get those cheap ice chests at wall mart too. The lids would make good vertical gardens possibly and you could use the bottom part for the trough.

I looked at styrofoam balls at Michaels, and they are way to fragile to try to cut into them and use them to pot.

Clint, thanks for thinking out load you gave me a couple of ideas... thanks

Marilyn - I have been thinking out loud all day. I have too many ideas to ever do them all. :rofl:

I'm so glad I saw this thread. I think I will go to Lowes tomorrow to look for my supplies. They love to see me walk in there!

Clint, I think there was a section in the directions that said using the lighter weight styrofoam isn't a good idea, that you should look for the heavier kind like shippers use.

Marilyn, there's also heavier denser styro balls too. They are around, just not everywhere.

Thanks. I'll look for that.

I still have some styrofoam boxes here and I better get busy with them for planting. I did a couple of them then put that project aside for a while. I think I may try them for planting some veggies too. I love spaghetti squash and think that would be one for the styrofoam planter. The vines take up so much room in my raised bed, Wheels definitely turning here, but today is kind of dreary so there won't be smoke for a while.

The creative juices are definitely starting to flow. Spring is just around the corner.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with Pegi.

What great ideas presented on this forum! Wish that I had discovered this website earlier. Like Tabby, I get a thick styrofoam box in which my boxes of medicine are delivered, every 3 months. The boxes have been accumulating in my garage, but I had a feeling that there must be a good use for them and so I just couldn't bring myself to throw them out. If anyone living in the San Jose, California area would like to have my current stash of containers, and/or would like to get the steady future supply, please let me know -- I would love to give the boxes a good home!

I wish I knew someone that lived closer to you Astro! BTW to ATP! A friend gave me 2 a month ago, and I had them set aside waiting for me to do something on them (faux finish) but then we got hit by crazy heavy winds,and I guess I didn't have them pinned down well enough...next thing I know, one is gone forever and the other is being blown around my parking lot Ooops! Sorry - my building manager thinks I'm a little nuts anyway!

Hi astrogirl, and a great big to ATP.
So glad you found your way here. Maybe you could use some of them to create your own garden art? What do you grow in your garden?
I would love to see photos of your plants/containers.

They don't last and are to fragile in the long run.

Tabby has some that have lasted for a number of years in her Colorado gardens. Maybe the Florida sun breaks them down quicker?

Yes, I think thats true possibly Lynn.

I just like the feeling of solidity, longevity, and weight is always a good thing in wind prone areas.

One scratch in hypertufa would go unnoticed.

This styrofoam concept is an ingenious concept for the short term and O.K. for a quick look in my mind.

Create one for a friend as a gift;...pin a bow in the side,... and know they will move the plants into something better eventually if they are really into plants of course!

Reviving an old, but still relevant thread. As Bluefox said in the first post, styrofoam box troughs did start with the famous Scottish rock gardener, Ian Young. He still lives near a manufacturing plant in Aberdeen that makes styro boxes for shipping fish, etc. and he would get the reject boxes to play with.

Anyway, a few more ideas for you all in a thread that I started years ago:
https://www.nargs.org/styrofoa...

Rick, that is a great short article. Some of those styrofoam containers are very realistic looking troughs. Love them.
Thank you for the update on Ian Young.

I need to give this a try again. I did a couple of them about 10 years ago and was very happy with them.