Spruce Up Your Boring Walkway On A Budget With Beautiful DIY Rock Planters

Walkway feeling a little boring? Spruce it up with a quick and easy planter DIY. Using just chicken wire, some pliers, decorative rocks and an artificial pot plant, you can refresh your space in no time at all — and you can do so without breaking your budget. For this DIY hack, you'll be using chicken wire to fashion your own planters, popping your plants of choice in the middle, then using the rocks to fill up the space between the plant and the wire. 

As for the measurements of each component, start by measuring how much space you have along or next to your walkway. From there, you can choose a pot plant in the relevant size. These can be real, though for those who lack a green thumb, fake plants are more than okay, too (and may actually be a better choice for this particular DIY — but we'll get to that later). Regardless of the pot plants you choose, once you have them, you can measure out your chicken wire. The planter you create with it should be bigger than the pot plant itself so you can surround it with rocks, but other than that, the exact sizing is up to you. Finally, order some decorative rocks (a 16-ounce bag will set you back just under a dollar at Walmart), and you're ready to get started.

Now that you know the basics, let's get to fashioning the planter. Walmart comes to the rescue here again, offering a set complete with 16 feet of chicken wire, pliers, gloves, and even extra ties for under $20. Alternatively, if you already have chicken wire and pliers left over from another DIY project, now's the perfect time to save some money and repurpose them. Start by wrapping your chicken wire around your pot plant to get an idea of the size of planter you want to make. Again, remember to leave some space all the way around the pot plant. 

Once you're happy with the size of your DIY planter, cut the wire where appropriate, then use your pliers to connect both ends to one another. For the base, you'll just be using more chicken wire, so cut a sheet that fits at one end of the planter, and again, use pliers to attach it. At this point of the process, you may want to personalize the planter in some way. For one, you could spray paint the wire to match the color of the pebbles. You could also go with a color that contrasts against the rocks. However, if you prefer the farmhouse vibes of the chicken wire, just leave it as is. Pop the pot plant inside, use your pebbles to fill up the empty section surrounding it, and you're done! 

Onto that earlier note we made about real vs. fake plants in your DIY planter. Real plants will look gorgeous in this hack, and if you're a confident plant parent, you may be fine with the regular upkeep of real plants and everything it entails. The only reason we'd caution against using real plants is because of drainage. Because your DIY planters will be made of chicken wire, you'll need a plant saucer to prevent water from leaking out from under your planter. 

However, saucers and drip trays are easy enough to purchase online. They're also clear, so they won't be super noticeable. Nevertheless, they will detract from otherwise very professional-looking DIY planters.  Our take? As long as you don't make any of the common mistakes people make when buying fake plants, going the artificial route is the best choice for this hack. After all, making these planters is all about upgrading your walkway. Drip plates, or in the absence of those, water marks, will only take away some of the "wow" factor from the final product.