Give Vinyl Records New Life In Your Garden With This Unexpected Twist

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A good sweep of the garage or attic sometimes nets boxes and boxes of unexpected treasures, like old 33 LPs. If you still have a record player and the records aren't all scratched up, you've got many nights of listening pleasure ahead of you. If the records are all played out, you can give them a new life by using them as a garden border. This unique flower bed decor idea will make your lawn stand out, and it is an especially cool option if you want to bring a retro vibe to your backyard.

The number of records you'll need to make garden edging depends on the size of the beds or walkways you want to decorate. A standard 33 long-playing (LP) record is 12 inches across, so if your garden bed measures 5 feet by 6 feet, you'll need approximately 22 unbroken records. Use a 16-foot Amazon Basics Tape Measure to get your border parameters right.

You'll also need support behind the records to keep them lined up neatly and protected. Bricks, poles, or even pieces from an old bed frame will work. You'll additionally need some essential landscaping tools to keep nearby when working in your backyard, like a small trowel and some gardening gloves — all things you'll find in the Craft911 GROWIT 22-Piece Garden Tools Set. Finally, if you have a lot of records, you may find it helpful to carry them in a tote. A few Ggbin Plastic Dish Tubs will come in handy here.

You need to bury your old LPs in the dirt to create the edging for your flower garden or walkway. To get started, dig a shallow trench for the records with a trowel. It should be about 6 inches deep. (If you have a lot of LPs to sink into the ground, you may be more comfortable digging the holes with a large shovel.) Bury the records in the trench until just the top half is showing. The ground surrounding the LPs needs to be packed firmly front and back to ensure they stand upright. Use your feet to pack down the loose dirt after you bury each record. Repeat this process until your flower bed or walkway is lined with LPs.

Next, you'll need to set up a wall to support the records, keep them in place, and help them stay straight. It also gives you some guarantee that your LPs are protected, to an extent, from bumps and dings. Make the support wall by lining the inner edges of the flower beds with bricks, wooden poles, or steel sheet. Think of the support wall as extra edging. Generally speaking, vinyl records are fragile. Having a wall behind them protects them from damage should the dirt shift as the result of a storm or future planting. Old records are also a fun way to decorate planter boxes with built-in support.

Vinyl records are prone to both breaking and warping. Without the retaining walls behind them, warping will happen pretty quickly in the hot sun, so don't skip this step. Breakage is a possibility as temperatures cool below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, in most cases. Same goes for humidity above 50%. You may have to swap some of the records out if they get brittle and break over the winter. In the summer, if they warp in the heat, you should be able to flatten them again by placing them between two glass panes and popping them into an oven set to its lowest temperature for 30 minutes.

Speaking of putting records in the oven, you can upcycle scratched vinyl records to make funky flower pots that match your garden beds. Instead of putting the record on a cookie sheet, place it over an oven-safe bowl that's turned upside down and put it in a 200-degree Fahrenheit oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The record will melt over the bowl in a fluted pattern. Press down on the hot record for more dramatic fluting. If you do this, wear heavy-duty gloves to prevent your hands from getting burned. Once the LP has cooled enough to retain its new shape, put soil and succulents in it. Place it in the garden near your decorative record edging.