If you’re tired of buying expensive coconut liners every spring, then you’re going to love my cheap solution, and you can do it yourself.
I came up with this idea way back in 2011, and my DIY alternative liners look just as great today as they did when I first made them.
This inexpensive project is easy to do with materials you probably have lying around the house. Plus, my coco liner substitution looks awesome, and lasts for years without having to be replaced.
I have a few of those wire basket planters that came with coconut liners when I bought them. The coco liner always looks so beautiful when freshly planted with summer annuals.
But after a season or two, they start to look dingy and gray. Plus, the birds like to tear the coco fiber apart to use for building their nests. The result? Well, it’s not pretty.
I love my wire basket planters, but they are unusable without the coconut liners. I could buy fresh replacement ones every spring, but that gets to be very expensive.
I don’t know about you, but I just couldn’t justify the cost every year, so my favorite wire planter ended up sitting in the garage. And every time I looked at it I felt sad and frustrated.
It finally got to the point where I was either going to get rid of it, or figure out how I could make it usable again. Challenge accepted!
What To Use As An Alternative For Coconut Liners
One day while I was cleaning the garage, I found a bunch of leftover landscaping fabric that was just collecting dust. Aha! I found my solution.
When I came up with the idea, I was so excited. Not only is the fabric much cheaper than buying brand new coco basket liners, but it will also last longer.
If you don’t like the idea of landscaping fabric, a burlap liner will give you a similar look as the coco liners, but will last longer. You can buy it in a roll, and use that instead.
Otherwise if you prefer the coconut liners over the fabric options, it’s cheaper to buy it in a large roll than it is to get the preformed sizes.
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How To Make Easy DIY Landscaping Fabric Planter Liners
This works great as an alternative for any type of coco liners, including a free-standing planter like mine, wire hanging baskets, and deck railing or window boxes.
Supplies Needed
- Wire planter or hanging basket
- Landscaping fabric
- Sharp scissors
- Floral wire
- Wire cutters
Instructions
Step 1: Cut the fabric – To figure out how much you need, lay the landscaping fabric over the wire basket and press it into the bottom. Then cut the fabric so you have a good 3-4 inch overlap all the way around the top of the basket.
Step 2: Attach the fabric to the basket – Cut a 3-4″ piece of floral wire with your wire cutters and bend it into a U shape. Then use it to attach the fabric to the basket by poking the wire through the liner, and twisting the ends together on the inside of the basket.
Step 3: Straighten the liner as you go – Repeat step 2 to continue to attach the liner to your planter at each cross section. As you work your way around the basket, straighten the liner and fold it nicely so the landscaping fabric wouldn’t bunch up in one spot at the end.
I found that it helped to add soil into the liner as I worked my way around the basket to weigh it down, get it into the right form and shape, and also to hold it in place.
Step 4: Fill it with soil – Once the fabric is attached all the way around the wire basket, finish filling it with soil. Then gently press it down to make sure the liner is firmly in place, and there aren’t any weird folds or gaps.
Step 5: Trim off the extra fabric – Trim off any extra fabric that’s sticking out above the top of the basket so that it’s even with the rim of your planter. Don’t cut it too short, or it could pop through and spill out some of the soil.
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Step 6: Plant your brand new wire basket – Now that you’ve added your alternative coco liners, you can plant your wire basket again with anything you want.
To save myself even more cash, I decided to plant a mix of hardy sedums in mine rather than using annuals that need to be replaced every spring. That way, I can just overwinter them in the garage and keep them growing year after year. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
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Look at that, my wire basket planter is brand new, and I never have to buy expensive coconut liners again. If you have any of these sitting around collecting dust in your garage, give them new life with these inexpensive do-it-yourself replacement wire basket liners.
More Container Gardening Posts
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- How To Make An Easy DIY Tiered Planter
- 21 Best Container Plants For Pots
- How To Fertilize Outdoor Potted Plants & Containers
Have you figured out a cheap alternative to coconut liners too? Tell me about it in the comments below.
Christina says
Used dollar tree roll of 6in burlap(from the craft section) and plant wire(garden section)also form the dollar tree was able to line 2 large 1 small wire planter, well wire baskets I turned into planters. Thank you for the inspiration. Had it all at home didn’t require any trips to town- BOIUS POINTS! Wish I was able to post pics, trust me they turned out better than I’d imagined. Have a great day
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome! You’re welcome. If you want to share a photo, please post it on my Facebook page. I would love to see it!
Roberta Bogner says
Oh my. Much simpler than what I did- made baskets out of Astroturf and painted them brown/cinnamon.
Narelle Elliot says
I just wondered if you came up with an idea to use up the old coconut liners??
Amy Andrychowicz says
I just toss the worn out coco liners into the compost bin.
Bev says
Hello – love the idea of using landscaping fabric or burlap to line my wire baskets!! I am wondering if the water will drain thru as it does quite a bit in the coco liner? I thought it drained too much water when I watered. Maybe I be am doing something wrong!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, the water will drain through fairly quickly, similar to the coconut liners. If your baskets are drying out too quickly, you can line them with layer of plastic before filling them with soil. Just make sure to poke holes in the bottom of the plastic so the water won’t pool in there.
Lynn says
Beyond funny i thought of that a long time ago, but husband said ugly. Think as well to wire black spool wire to fir it up on the outside. It is a pretty big gap between frames. Dont get me wrong i did it last year as well. I think it looks fine. Great idea.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Funny! And thank you.
Diane Desenberg says
I am considering lining the inside of my new civo baskets. Would this idea save the coco from disintegrating? Then you still get the coco effect against the black metal.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Unfortunately the fabric won’t do anything to keep the coco liners from breaking down.
Rosie D says
I did this this year. Got tired of how the coco liners were becoming messy. I used plant wire to secure some edges so liner would not bunch up. So far I have had success. This is a great idea. Doubling up on liner can also help. I fear the plastic bag may create mold around liner and start creating problems. But the weed liner is a great idea.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, glad to hear the fabric worked to replace your messy coco liners!
Jessica says
Hello,
Do I need to line the planter with plastic (with holes) to hold water better. I am in zone 9b.
Thank you,
Jess
Amy Andrychowicz says
You certainly could line the basket with plastic after installing the fabric liners to help retain moisture if you’d like. I haven’t done that with mine, but some people have done it.
Raina says
I have a small wire stand that I used the leaves from a big red mulberry (about 8″ across, almost foot long) to line it.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Wow, great idea to use resources you already have to line your baskets!
Kathleen says
I want to put succulents in my hanging baskets, I don’t want to hold moisture in the way I would for other plants. Will the fabric drain enough for succulents?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, this fabric drains quickly. I have succulents planted in mine, and they are very happy! 🙂
Liz says
I’ve used old synthetic clothing fabric as basket liners.
They work a treat, & so far have lasted about 6 years, with no sign of degrading.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience with using synthetic clothing fabric to line your wire baskets. Great idea!
J. Zinni says
I’ve used the landscape fabric for a number of years and it’s a great time and money saver. Instead of using wire to ensure the liner doesn’t slip and shed soil, I used small black binder clips from the office supply store to secure the fabric to the wire frame (especially necessary if the spaces between wire supports are wide). You can pinch off the silver “arms” of the clips so the remaining black clip just blends in with the landscape fabric.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Thanks for sharing how you attached the landscaping fabric to the wire basket. Great idea!
Libbi says
I used an old gray t-shirt last year and it is still going strong. I just turned it upside down and inside out. It has worked out well to line an old milk carton I used to plant strawberries.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Wonderful, thanks for sharing your cheap alternative coco liner solution with us! So fun to hear other success stories.
Darlene says
I have a question about the garden lawn fabric in wire baskets in stead of coconut liners. Does the liners let water drain? Or do you need a hole in center at bottom of basket before adding dirt for drainage? If so I was thinking using those metals eyelets I guess what they are for stability in center . What do you think?
Amy Andrychowicz says
As long as you use landscaping fabric (NOT plastic) to line your wire baskets, then it drains on it’s own very well. So no need to make any holes in the fabric.