This DIY Garden Planter Has Everything Birds Need When Visiting Your Yard

If you are a birder, a gardener, and a woodworker, you're in luck, because there's a project that's perfect for you. Zing Woodworks on YouTube has shared a fantastic design for a garden planter that lets you provide your feathered friends with everything they need, from flowers to seeds to shelter. In this project, Zing Woodworks uses cedar fence pickets and 4-by-4 treated lumber to create a planter with shelves for birdhouses and feeders. 

The DIY garden planter is an amazing creation and fairly easy to put together if you have the time, skills, and tools. The creator uses a framing nailer, a double bevel miter saw, and an impact driver in this project, which you probably have if you are an avid woodworker. In terms of materials, this DIY isn't too bad on the wallet, given its uniqueness and considering the cost of buying planters outright. You can get cedar fence pickets from many stores, with some online retailers offering them for as low as a few dollars a piece. 4-by-4 treated lumber is a bit more expensive, but you just need a few pieces for this project. 

If you don't have what you need for this project, you may want to look at other ways to create a DIY wooden planter and bird feeder from containers or pallets. You could grab a wooden container, place a staked bird feeder inside, and fill it with soil and flowers for a similar vibe! 

If you want to create your own bird garden planter like Zing Woodworks, you will first need to measure and cut all your timber. The cedar fence pickets are used for the sides and bottom of the planter, with the 4x4 lumber used for the bird feeder and to reinforce the planter. In the video, the creator builds the planter first, starting with creating the four sides and the bottom. Then they attach the 4-by-4 cuts to each corner, leaving one 4-by-4 long to make the bird feeder.

When the planter is done, they then add shelves for the bird feeders. Again, they measured everything out and cut the wood with a mitre saw to ensure that it all fit perfectly together. Once varnished, they add hooks for more bird feeders and hanging plants, place cute little bird houses on the shelves, and add flowers to the planter.

There is room for personalisation with this cool design. For example, you could add different types of bird feeders to the post, depending on what birds visit your garden. You could also add more hanging plants, or even make the planter bigger for larger shrubs.  

Adding the flowers is not just for aesthetics. Birds love plants, and there are loads of flowers that will bring beautiful birds to your yard that you can add to this planter. Many birds feed on the berries and seeds of native plants, but they also use shrubs and plants for shelter and eat the insects that live among the foliage. 

A beautiful flower that attracts birds and can be grown in containers is the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). These are loved by goldfinches who feed on their seeds and eat the insects that the purple coneflower attracts. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is also a container-friendly bloom that livens up your yard and brings in your feathered friends. Smaller cultivars of this flower, such as 'Autumn Colors' and 'Cherry Brandy', are best for planters. 

Other flowers to consider include coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), swamp sunflower (Helianthus atrorubens), petunia (Petunia spp.), and salvia (Salvia spp.). Once you have picked your flowers and planted them, enjoy watching the birds visit the feeder (and the blooms), and remember to keep the snacks topped up during those long, winter months!