How to Make Teacup and Teapot Planters!

Published: 06/03/2018

As 'unusual' planters are trending in the horticultural world, we thought we would try it ourselves and find out how easy or difficult it would be. The result? You'll just have to keep reading and see! We have recorded our attempt and turned it into a guide on 'How to make Teacup and Teapot Planters' so that you can get involved too. It doesn't matter whether you have a garden or not, you can still take part.You can theme your planters by choosing a style of teacup to suit you or even theme your plants. For example, herbs for the kitchen or highly scented plants like a calming Lavender for your bedroom.

What you will need

1. Large teacups with saucers. We picked these up from a pound shop so you don't have to spend a lot of money! The pastel colours work perfectly for spring and summer! We also chose a large white teapot as well which isn't pictured here

2. Flowers of your choice, compost and gravel or small stones for drainage. 

3. A Drill, safety goggles and gloves. Be very careful using the drill. We were lucky enough to have an experienced handyman to do this for us but if you're careful you should be OK. Children - make sure you have an adult to do this bit for you. .

Prep your area 

As you can see we actually did this indoors but we found it to be VERY messy! It could be a good idea to move outside if the weather is nice or lay down a lot of newspaper. Make sure you're in a well lit room so you can clearly see what you're doing and have everything laid out ready to go.

Step 1: Drill drainage holes at the bottom of your teacups 

You will need to create small holes at the bottom of your teacups so the water can drain out. We advise practicing on an old mug first to see if you have the right drill bit and to have a go. Before we did any drilling we marked a hole to indicate where to drill where to drill on the practice mug.

Next, our handyman gave it a whirl and the drill went through perfectly on this mug!

With successful practice and confident that we knew how to drill the holes (and that the drill bit would work) it was time to mark and drill the teacups that we intended to actually use for planters.

With the cups lined up ready to go, once again we started to drill just as we had done with the practice mug.

This is where we came across our first problem...the drill bit wouldn't work! It did no more than scratch the surface of the ceramic mugs so we had to stop and come up with a new plan.

Most DIY stores sell a bit specifically designed for drilling holes in ceramic or tiles. We didn't know this when we started (we're not experienced when it comes to DIY) but we managed to source one and it worked like a charm.

At this point ( provided you have the right tools!) each of the teacups should have a small hole perfect for drainage.

We erm, had a slight problem when it came to the teapot.

..

It turns out they are definitely not as easy to drill as the cups. The shape made it awkward to drill and when we put some pressure on to drill through...disaster!

Just shows that you have to be really careful when doing this! We did of course get creative with some scotch tape and managed to salvage the situation.

Step 2: Fill your teapot and teacups with gravel and compost

For the drainage you will then need to add some gravel to the bottom of your teacups.

Once you can no longer see the bottom  of your mug, cover the gravel with compost.

This step was all very easy.

Step 3: Plant your flowers 

Now it's time to plant your flowers and this is when it gets really messy! Pick your first flower. Take it out of the container and tease the roots out.

Plant the flower into your chosen teacup. We tried to match our flowers nicely with the colours of the cups.

Add in more compost to make sure the teacup is full. This can be quite tricky as there isn't much space in a teacup and you will probably end up with soil spilling out.

Things got even messier with the teapot...again..

It turns out the teapot is actually really difficult to do this with! The narrow opening at the top made it tricky to get the plant in and even trickier to then pack with soil.

With everything planted up, the cups and teapot were pretty messy with soil all over the outside. We found a paintbrush helped to brush away all the soil and clean things up a bit.

Step 4: Take lots of lovely images and enjoy your pretty planters:)

Once your Teacup and Teapot Planters are wiped down then you're ready to take lots of nice pics, find a nice sunny spot for your planters to live, and keep them well-watered.

We hope you enjoyed this post! Go on, have a a go at making your very own Teacup and Teapot Planters! Don't forget to share your pretty pics with us over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.