What can you do with an unused chiminea?
Recycle it into a planter!
While I love our clay chiminea, it doesn’t get used anymore. We have so many other fire pits and this is my least favorite. I love how it looks but when it comes to using it, I prefer the big open fire pit that everyone can sit around. And for cooking, I prefer the Biolite.
So instead of just leaving the chiminea sitting looking pretty in the garden, I’ve turned it into a pot plant. I can always reverse it quickly and easily if I do get the urge to light a fire in the chiminea, but until then, it’s the perfect spot for succulents.
Here’s what I did.
Chiminea Pot Plant
This is the chiminea sitting in the garden beforehand.
It’s previously been used as a bird feeder when not in use.
The birds do love the chiminea as a feeder – it keeps them away from our dog.
But I have plenty of other spots to feed them from in the winter when there’s not so much nectar around for them.
These are the succulents that I’ve grown from a cutting and which I’ll put into the chiminea.
I think the chimney will be the perfect planter for cacti and succulents because they like warm, dry, sheltered spots. Plus the clay retains and radiates heat even after the sun has gone down.
Also, I don’t want to be putting a lot of water into the chiminea, so these guys are perfect.
Our chiminea had fire bricks and sand in the bottom of it already and I just left these in.
I also brought the chiminea up from the garden and onto the deck where it will be more sheltered and get more sun.
I laid some plastic cut from a soil mix bag in the bottom.
This will make removing the plants easier in the future if I decide to use the chiminea again.
Then it was just a case of putting a bit of soil and gravel into the chiminea and transplanting the succulents.
I added some larger pebbles on top.
A close-up of one of the 7 or so cuttings I put in.
This variety grows very fast so it won’t take long to sprawl out everywhere across the stones.
It doesn’t look like much at the moment, but I’m excited to see how it grows over the next 6 months.
I’ll put a cover on top as well to keep the rain out – plus, when it gets very cold in the winter I’ll probably move the entire thing into the conservatory you can see behind it.
Chiminea Pot Plant
A lot of people have chimineas just sitting in the garden unused, and this is a fun way to get a little more out of them.
Most of them are already very decorative and look lovely without anything in them – especially the Blue Rooster Chimineas – but recycling it into a pot plant is a fun way to make it even nicer (in my opinion).
Plus, it saves on buying a few new pots!
Do you have any other alternative use ideas for a chiminea? Let me know in the comment section below!
