Tin bath ideas

familydavis01

Hi, I am painting an old tin bath back to silver, it is quite large, similar to this one but the silver colour is now quite bright.  I want to plant it up so that it looks good all year, I particularly love white flowers. Not quite sure where to start, any recommendations would be much appreciated.  We are also toying with the idea of the possibility of planting most of it but also having a small water feature, maybe some kind of tap running water into it with a pump.  Has anybody done anything similar?  Thank you

Obelixx

Hard to see how it can be both water feature and planter as even bog plants need some  drainage so their roots don't drown so you will need holes to let excess water escape.

I have a slightly smaller version I painted many years ago - Hammerite black with a  metallic fleck in it - and used to fill with ice to hold the beers at parties.   Nowadays I have it in my potting area, filled with water for dunking plants pre and post re-potting.

I think you need to decide between plants or water and then proceed accordingly.

familydavis01

Thanks, we were thinking more of planting up the bath and then having a pump and container within it amongst the flowers, too ambitious?

Obelixx

Complicated to keep the container and thus a pump clean I would think.

familydavis01

just plants it is then, any advice on how we can make it look good all year so that even in winter it is still showing interest?

Fairygirl

You need some evergreens, but also, it would be better to site it in the shade. That will heat up enormously in hot weather, which will be problematic for most plant roots. 
However, the good thing is that white flowering plants are superb for shade, and there are plenty to choose from. 
Hardy geraniums, Dicentra [which now has a new name I've forgotten] Japanese Anemones for this time of year, Hostas, Bergenias. All available in white, plus you get the variegated foliage with most hostas. Ferns - some are evergreen, the Aspleniums are readily available. Iberis [perennial candytuft] is good and trails over edges too. Euonymous would provide winter interest as a foliage plant too, as would Heucheras. 

Narcissus, crocus and snowdrops for winter into spring, native primulas - all those are available as whites into pale creams. 

Obelixx

I agree with @Fairygirl - white flowering plants in some shade and maybe a trailing, creamy white variegated ivy too for winter interest.  There's a white flowering form of vinca that is not thuggish and white hardy cyclamen maight be good in there to extend the season.  Mine are flowering now.  Maybe a white penstemon for summer.

As it's a small area, best to stick to a few plants rather than cram it with too many different ones.  It'll look more coherent.

Make sure you have a good layer of gravel in the bottom with some charcoal to keep things sweet then put drainage holes and inch or two up the sides so there's always a water reservoir.  I'd also use a loam-based compost such as John Innes 3 mixed with up to 1.3rd of MPC to help hold some moisture and maybe some fine grit mixed in too depending on your choice of plants.    

familydavis01

Wow thank you so much , excellent suggestions, I am really looking forward to filling it now, drainage holes on the sides and gravel in the bottom isnt something I would have thought of.  Thanks again

Fairygirl

Oh yes - those little ivies are excellent for tucking in on edges. I have one in a tiny pot on the shelf by my back door, and it fills a gap between other plants. No attention needed either. White cyclamen definitely. I also have a prostrate Gaultheria, which is very good in shade.

There's a good nursery which specialises in plants for shade too, hence their name 

https://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/
Worth taking a look for further ideas 

We forgot about white Hellebores too. Excellent and evergreen. 

familydavis01

After much thought I think I would like to go with evergreen Iberis and ivy trailing over the sides.  I really think that would look lovely as a starting point.  I have some white cyclamen which I would like to put in now along with some japanese anemones which I also already have to give it height (coincidentally my mother has loads of these to get rid of, could I transplant them now?).  I want to get the bulbs in first so that I get a lovely spring show, I was thinking snowdrops and pale pink tulips. Will the cyclamen last until the spring bulbs come out?  If not I can add some winter pansies maybe. The thing that really confuses me is this - once the cyclamen and anemones have died down and the spring bulbs come up and they too have died, how do I add in summer flowers without disturbing the outgoing flowers/bulbs?  Is a year round display possible or would you usually just concentrate on getting say winter and spring looking good?  Its giving me a lot to think about, I cant wait to get planting!  Thanks so much

halenajulie42

This might be a really silly question..... I have acquired a bath today which I thought I could grow carrots in (it's going to take years to get enough stones out of the garden to be able to plant them in the ground!), so, in my books, it says that rows of carrots should be 15 cms apart, which leaves me with two (potentially very blond!) questions: 1. Do I have to leave a 15cm gap from the edge of the bath to the first row of carrots or just that space between the actual plants? 2.
A while back on the Big Dig on UKTV Gardens a lady was planting carrots in what looked like an old water barrel, she had sown them in decreasing circles and unless TV had really distorted how the space available, there was no way there was 15cm between the circles - so does this mean that amount of space is not really necessary? Also, if anyone happens to know how many liters of compost it takes to fill a bath do let me know!