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.
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.
Lorri says
I reuse the old ooconut liners in smaller pots. Then ŵhen I just have little bits I stuff the liner in other floral arrangements. Looks nice and I notice that the birds use it for their nests.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great idea to get a longer life out of your coconut liners! Thanks for sharing.
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.