The Bucket

When I moved into my house over 20 years ago there were two things left in the basement: a very old refrigerator, and a metal paint bucket.

The bucket sat in a corner of the basement for at least 15 years before I came to appreciate the beauty in "well-used" objects like this, and how they can contribute to the garden.

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So outside it went, where I used it as a small planter for water-loving plants the first year, but it's been used mainly as decoration and as a utility bucket since then.

I love the thick buildup of paint layers, but I noticed last summer that the paint was starting to peel away from the bottom inside the bucket:

I thought that was a bit strange, but never thought to examine it more closely. The other day I grabbed this to carry some water down to the veggie beds (too cold to get out the hose), and finally noticed why the paint in the bottom was peeling:

Freeze damage! Weird that it took almost a year for me to pick it up and look underneath. I must not have moved it around much last year.

This was the first time I had used the bucket to water my edibles, and I realized that it should be the last too...

The peeling and cracked paint, as beautiful as it is, probably contains lead. I certainly don't want to be watering my food plants with lead-contaminated water! I don't know how quickly lead leaches into water so it may be fine to fill from the tap and pour immediately, but rainwater that collects here for hours or days will certainly contain something nasty.

So I'll most likely flatten out the bottom a bit, drill a few drainage holes, and make this a decorative planter for something non-edible. Put it out to pasture, so to speak. I'm certainly not throwing it away, as I still love this bucket!


Do you have any old "junk" items in your garden that you love?

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