If you don’t have a lot of gardening space, growing up instead of out makes the most of what you do have available. This three-tiered planter is easy to put together yourself and will help turn your vertical space into a lush garden.


You’ll have no trouble getting the inexpensive supplies for this project from your local hardware or gardening store. Here’s what you need:

A large pot with saucer

A medium pot

A small pot

Two sturdy plastic or metal containers (old paint cans, yogurt containers)

Soil

Plants of your choice

Plant labels (optional)

For the plastic or metal containers, one will need to fit inside the large pot and one will need to fit inside the medium pot. They should take up about around half of the pot’s volume. You can use pots of almost any material, but terra cotta or unglazed ceramic will let water drip between levels easily and will add weight to the tiers so they don’t topple in the wind.


Place the larger of the plastic or metal containers upside down in the large pot. Fill with soil up to the bottom of the container, then place the medium pot on top of the container. Plant your first tier of plants as they fit around the medium pot. Place the other plastic or metal container upside down in the medium pot and fill with soil until it reaches the bottom of the container. Place the smallest of the pots on top of the container and plant your second tier. Fill the small pot with soil and plant your third tier. The video above uses herbs, but you can put anything from flowers to vegetables in this DIY planter. Vines or other plants that grow downward would look great dangling over each tier, too.

3 Tiered Herb Planters | Nifty (YouTube)