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Revamping your garden need not put a dent in your wallet, particularly when a plethora of creative options awaits you in your community dollar store. By harnessing a dash of imagination and procuring a few economical supplies, you can rejuvenate your outdoor area, transforming it into a sanctuary of elegance and allure.
Whether it’s ornamental planters or exclusive garden markers, dollar store merchandise serve as an ideal foundation for economical DIY endeavors that will not only captivate your neighbors but also bring you immense satisfaction.


The appeal of dollar store gardening is in the capacity to make something uniquely personal without shelling out a lot of money. Regardless if you’ve got a modest balcony or a large backyard, these DIY concepts can be adapted to suit your area and aesthetics.
All projects provide an opportunity to introduce a hint of playfulness or a dash of color, all the while keeping expenses minimal and creativity maximal. Prepare yourself to get hands-on and transform basic dollar store discoveries into cherished garden items that mirror your character.
Gardening is not simply about cultivating plants; it also involves shaping a zone which functions as an extension of your living space. By using DIY projects from dollar stores, you can design a unique garden, enriched with considerate details and individual components.
Whether you’re an adept gardener or a beginner, these suggestions are structured to prompt and enable you to maximize what you possess. Allow the pleasure of creativity to pilot you in converting your garden into a serene area where you can de-stress, find peace, and appreciate nature’s allure.
Dollar Store Garden DIY Ideas
19. Planted Tulip Pots from The Sequin Home
This item highlights the benefits of planting flowers directly in pots, making it easier to move and replant blooms as needed. It emphasizes the use of containers with drainage holes and the importance of selecting the right potting mix, such as peat moss, to support healthy plant growth.
The description also covers the advantages of terracotta pots, including their breathability and resistance to mildew, while advising on proper care to avoid mold and cracking.
It encourages thoughtful plant arrangement by height and color to create visually appealing container gardens that can thrive indoors or outdoors.
18. Succulents In Recycled Tin Cans from Home Hearth Haven

17. DIY Mason Jar Succulent Pots from Lolly Jane
These DIY mason jar succulent pots combine painted glass jars with easy-to-care-for succulents, creating charming, personalized planters. The jars are painted in soft chalky hues and lightly distressed for a rustic look, making them perfect for home decor or gifts.
Each pot is filled with soil and a succulent, requiring minimal maintenance since succulents need little watering. Printable gift tags designed for occasions like Mother’s Day or Teacher Appreciation add a thoughtful finishing touch to these simple, handcrafted presents.
16. Rustic Succulent DIY Pots from Pink When

15. DIY Seashell Planter from Billabong
This item displays a comprehensive online collection of Billabong’s surf, swim, and lifestyle apparel. It includes categories for men’s and women’s clothing, swimwear, wetsuits, boardshorts, and accessories, all designed for active outdoor and beach lifestyles.
Users can browse new arrivals, best sellers, and sale items, with options to filter by fit, style, and purpose. The selection also features specialized guides for boardshorts and wetsuits, helping users find gear tailored to their surfing and swimming needs.
14. Cake Pan Planter
A broken laundry basket is transformed into a charming planter by reinforcing cracks, lining it with burlap to hold soil, and wrapping the exterior with burlap and rope for a rustic finish.
The rope is tied into a decorative knot, adding a unique touch that conceals the basket’s original form completely.
This project repurposes discarded materials into a functional and attractive garden container, perfect for plants like hostas that thrive in shade. It offers a budget-friendly way to create large planters while reducing waste and adding personality to outdoor spaces.
13. Laundry Basket Planter from Elizabeth Joan Designs
This item demonstrates how to transform a broken laundry basket into a stylish planter using simple materials like burlap, rope, and packing tape. The process involves reinforcing the basket, lining it to hold soil, and adding decorative touches that conceal its original purpose.
By repurposing a discarded item, it offers an affordable and creative way to add large planters to your garden or porch. The finished planter not only looks attractive but also provides a practical home for plants, making it a unique example of upcycling in outdoor decor.
12. Shower Caddy Wall Planter from Dazzle While Frazzled

11. Ladder Herb Garden (no source found)
This project transforms empty plastic milk bottles into a compact indoor herb garden that hangs neatly from a wooden slat. The bottles are cut and modified to slide onto the slat, creating a vertical planter that saves counter space and adds greenery to any window area.
Users can personalize each bottle with labels or decorations and fill them with various herbs for easy access while cooking. The design encourages recycling and upcycling by repurposing waste materials into a functional and attractive kitchen feature.
10. DIY Plastic Bottle Herb Gardens from Grillo Designs
This project transforms empty plastic milk bottles into a hanging indoor herb garden that saves counter space and adds greenery to your kitchen. The bottles are cut, decorated, and slid onto a wooden baton, which can be hung near a window to provide herbs with natural light.
The design encourages recycling by repurposing waste materials into functional planters for growing herbs like cilantro or basil. It offers a simple, hands-on way to create a compact, vertical garden that fits well in small or rented homes.
9. Flower Centerpiece from Hearth and Vine
This flower pot centerpiece combines two terracotta pots, plants, and a candle to create a charming and budget-friendly decoration. The smaller pot fits inside the larger one, surrounded by soil and plants, with a candle placed in a glass vase inside the smaller pot for added ambiance.
The pots can be painted for a vintage look, and gravel is used to stabilize the candle holder. This project takes under an hour to complete and works well as a gift or a decorative piece for outdoor spaces like patios or porches.
8. Succulent Sphere (using $1 coco liners) from Drought Smart Plants
A succulent sphere is a three-dimensional garden decoration created by filling two wire hanging baskets with soil and planting succulent cuttings between them. The spherical shape adds a striking focal point to outdoor spaces, either displayed as a hanging ornament or set atop a sturdy planter for a topiary effect.
The construction involves tightly packing soil inside the baskets, wiring them together, and inserting succulent pups into the gaps to root and grow over time. Once established, the sphere becomes a living sculpture that requires minimal care and can overwinter outdoors if hardy succulents are used.
7. Nail Polish Terra Cotta Pots from Hello Glow
Create vibrant, marbled Easter eggs by dipping them into a bowl of room temperature water with floating nail polish colors. The polish spreads across the water’s surface, allowing you to swirl and mix shades before submerging the eggs to pick up the unique patterns.
This technique encourages experimentation with different polish colors and swirling effects to achieve a variety of designs. Using gloves helps keep hands clean during the dipping process, and letting the eggs dry on a paper plate minimizes smudging for a polished finish.
6. DIY Hanging Bottle Planters from Hello Glow
This item demonstrates how to transform recycled plastic bottles into colorful hanging planters. It guides users through cutting, painting, and preparing the bottles to hold plants, including creating drainage holes and adding hanging ropes.
The project encourages creativity with paint choices and offers a hands-on gardening experience suitable for kids and adults alike. Once completed, the planters can be hung outdoors, adding a vibrant, eco-friendly touch to any garden or patio space.
5. Egg Carton Seed Start (source unknown)
This item demonstrates how to create simple, attractive cedar window boxes that add charm to a front porch. It highlights the use of affordable materials and basic tools to build and assemble the boxes quickly, including tips for cutting, sanding, and securing the wood.
The project also addresses practical details like drainage and painting, making the boxes both functional and decorative. It encourages involving family members in the process, turning a straightforward woodworking task into a shared, enjoyable activity.
4. Cute Kitty Terra Cotta Flower Pot (source unknown)
This item demonstrates how to create simple, affordable cedar window boxes that add charm and color to a front porch. It highlights practical tips like choosing cedar wood for durability, cutting measurements, and assembling the box using basic tools such as a staple gun and drill.
The process includes making drainage holes and adding trim for a polished look, with suggestions for painting and installation help. It encourages using gravel for drainage and offers a straightforward approach to building attractive planter boxes that enhance outdoor spaces.
3. $3 Flower Box from from How Does She
This project demonstrates how to create simple, affordable window box planters using cedar wood, which resists water damage better than MDF. The process includes measuring, cutting, assembling with staples or screws, and adding drainage holes to ensure healthy plant growth.
The finished window boxes add a fresh, colorful touch to outdoor spaces like porches and can be painted to match any style. Gravel at the bottom helps with drainage, and the lightweight design makes installation easy, even with minimal tools or experience.
2. Over the Door Shoe Storage Herb Garden from Instructables
This item demonstrates how to create a vertical vegetable garden using a hanging pocket shoe organizer, ideal for small spaces. It shows how to set up the structure, fill the pockets with compost, and plant various vegetables and herbs to maximize growing area.
The setup includes attaching a pole to a wall or shed, securing the organizer, and managing water drainage with a drip tray. It also offers tips for maintaining healthy plants, such as gentle watering, pest control, and fertilizing to ensure a thriving vertical garden.
1. Lantern Terrarium from Fluorescent Beige Blog
This item features creative container gardens made using affordable Ikea products, including Bygel containers and Borrby lanterns. The Bygel containers are hung on a simple trellis to create a flexible vertical herb garden, while the lanterns are transformed into neat terrariums with added acrylic bases to contain soil and plants.
These projects offer easy ways to refresh outdoor or indoor spaces with minimal cost and effort. The setup allows for portability and seasonal adjustments, making it simple to move plants indoors as needed or rearrange the containers for different looks.