Ten Ways To Make Your Own Cinder Block Planters

While I do love the look of a nice garden I have to admit that I simply hate doing it. For several years now I have paid my elderly neighbour in beer to cut the grass every few weeks because I hate doing that much! But something I do love looking at and making myself is what is known as a cinder block planter. Quick and simple to make you can fill them with carefree succulents and forget about them. And here are ten great examples of how to do it properly…

This is my own one, that I made!

Me! It was actually me that made this! Trust me, if I can make my own that basically means anyone could have a go. It was so simple, I used X8 12″ cinder blocks and the total build price was £13.60. While it might be a lot smaller than most of the other ones seen here it still look amazing and everyone that comes to the front door seems to love it.

Simple, but yet deadly effective.

This is a great example that shows even having a single cinder block, means it looks amazing. With a nice mix of succulent plants and pebbles, it is like a little Oasis in the garden.

The Cinder Planter Wall!

The effort needed to pull this off is far beyond anything I would be willing to do myself, but the idea of using the cinder blocks as a vegetable wall garden is very, very good indeed.

A cinder block planter done the right way

What I liked about this one is not only is the symmetrical layout awesome looking, but they have not gone through the hard work of layering the bottom. All this person has done is place the plants and flowers into the planter using plant pots! Shame I didn’t think of doing this when I did mine.

Small, but quite frankly beautiful

This layout is showing people how it doesn’t have to be placed up against the wall as most people have done, but can, in fact, be free-standing pretty much anywhere you want it to in the garden! For this one, they have placed the plants into grow bags to give them some root growth.

It might be round the bend, but it is also pure genius

This is one of only a few I have ever seen that is not full of straight lines and corner placements. This one curving around the corner is a fantastic example of a small succulent garden placement idea.

The perfect example of it done right.

If there is one thing about this one and what I discovered when I was making my own one, it is the need for randomness. I tried several symmetrical layouts in my own garden, but it just didn’t seem to work, then bingo! I found this image, made my own random one and misplaced it and suddenly it looks amazing! …much like this one.

A great example of how to do it right on a patio

While this one is rather large, I personally think it was well worth the effort. With a nice mix of succulents and desert plants, it is a very low maintenance garden ornament.

The Tower Block they call cinder

Placing a cinder planter somewhere in the garden that it will get sprayed by the lawn sprinkler is a great way to make it zero maintenance. It might give it a slightly muddy shine to it, but I think that makes it look even better!

There are good ideas and then there are ideas born of pure genius!

It might well be the nerd inside me that made this number 1, but I do also think it is beautiful, and a great way to get the kids involved. It is not only the Super Mario themed question blocks, it is also the colourful flowers they have used that makes this one extra special.