Want to make your own natural planting pots? All you need to make a gift for someone (or yourself) is a nice young tropical coconut -- plus you can enjoy a healthy drink at the same time.

What's the difference between a young coconut and an old one, you ask? Young coconuts are covered in a soft husk, their milk is amazingly sweet, and their meat is creamy, almost like a light cheese.

The great part is that their soft shell can easily be turned into an extremely cute mini-pot for a plant.

To start this project, get your hands on some young coconuts. You can find them at an Asian market, a health food store, or maybe tucked away in the corner of the produce section of your supermarket.

Next, you need to open the coconut. There are tons of videos online showing multitudes of ways to do this, but here is a tried and true method: 

 

Once it's open, you can decide what to do with the milk and the inner meat. How about making a nice tropical drink by adding eco-friendly rum and a splash of lime juice? Or just have a refreshing glass of coco-water and eat the inner meat with a spoon, or use the meat and the water for some healthy smoothies. I typically go for a drink right out of the coconut and carve it like this for a flat-bottomed goblet:

Regardless of how you decide to consume your coconut, for your planting pot you'll want to remove all the inner flesh and the husk. A serrated blade works best for getting rid of the husk, while a spoon is a good tool for scraping out the coconut meat.

At the bottom of the coconut are three little eyelets. At least one of them should be loose. Use a knife to poke it out. Then wash the coconut with water and let it dry.

Once the coconut shell is completely dry, plug the eyelet hole with some cork and fill the coconut with potting soil or soil from your garden.

Now you have an awesome little pot for flowers, herbs, or even cacti.
























--Photos courtesy of Emily Fromm and iStockphoto/Design56 

James Rogers is a former editorial intern at Sierra. He graduated from Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment, where he studied a combination of environmental studies and journalism. While at Western, he was the editor in chief of The Planet magazine, and he has written for Conservation Northwest Quarterly, Public Eye Northwest, and The Western Front.

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