Basket Makeovers - More Planting Up

Old flower pots seem to re-produce in our garden. There are times I think they do better at reproducing than the plants that were bought contained in them. Put a discreet stack of half a dozen or so behind the garden shed and within a season or two you are knee-deep in plastic pots. They are just one of the kinds of clutter I am trying to get under control. I was about to say you can't even give them away around here but I think I have come up with a way;  raise cuttings, plant them up in the proliferating pots and give them to the plant stall at the local charity garden fete. All I have to do is to make sure I buy fewer plants from said stall than those I donate.It is a rather insignificant drop in the tide however and apparently it is not helped by my habit of re-using other things as planters. And I have been doing just that again. I was trying to sort out the pile of  pots behind the shed when I happened to find a pair of aged baskets near the bottom of the stack.

Considering they had spent at least one winter exposed to the elements they were in fairly good shape I thought. May be they could give another season of use. I quite like the vintage look, even if it might owe more to artifice than age. Some things wear the patina of age with a certain charm but with these I thought there was far too much "shabby" and not enough "chic". Perhaps a light coat of paint would help, there was some not-quite-white matte left from redecorating the dining room.

Not bad, I thought. In fact the lower heart-shaped one  turned out so well it nearly got a fabric lining for something or other indoors but I had an idea for what I wanted to plant in that.

This campanula with its pretty starry blue flowers provides ground cover in several corners of the garden. I liked the idea of the blue with the white of the basket and the way that the heart-shaped leaves  would echo the shape of the container.
I lined it with weed suppressant sheeting.

I traced around the base of the basket onto the sheeting, added a border as wide as the basket was deep, cut it out and then cut through the border to the base shape as needed on the curves and the point so that the liner would sit smoothly inside the basket. You just never know when the skills for  cake tin lining and dress- making pattern cutting will come in handy, do you?
I have planted it up but it will need a while for the plants to take hold, fill out the gaps and flower.

As for the other basket with the handles, it was already lined in plastic. It most probably had some plants in it when it was given to me. This kind of planting is quite popular in supermarkets and garden centres but it is  not very plant friendly as the compost doesn't drain and it is difficult to judge how to water the plants properly without them either drying out or sitting in soggy compost. Yes, it means the container can be placed on furniture indoors without a tray or pot saucer underneath but I'm giving priority to plant welfare. This is why I used the weed suppressant membrane for the first basket..With that in mind, I poked some holes in the plastic lining the second basket to let it drain.
What could be more cheerful than a little basket of alpine strawberries?

They have been in the basket for a few weeks now and obviously like the conditions. Actually these might make good novelties for the plant stall - I will decide if I am prepared to part with them nearer the time. Meanwhile there is that stack behind the shed that hasn't been completely dealt with. I wonder if there is something else interesting in there.