Garden Mailbox: The Clever Tool Storage Hack You Need

(Originally published September 7, 2008)

From Trash to Treasure

I've always admired the idea of repurposing an old rural mailbox as garden tool storage. Call me disorganized—I never have pruners, ties, or labels when I need them now. A gardening apron never stuck. Then came our community dumpster day.

Among the discards: two bags of red mulch, a large plastic tub, and a standard black USPS rural mailbox—made not of metal but durable rubbery plastic. Perfect.

Refurbishing the Box

The top separated from the base easily. I primed and painted the interior white (leftover peach latex) so contents stay visible—and I can spot any spiders or earwigs before reaching in. The exterior got a coat of exterior latex from our shed project.

Mounting Made Simple

The base plate had pre-drilled holes. I screwed it to a rustic branch from the woodpile, added scrap pine braces for rigidity, and "planted" it in my vegetable garden with a post-hole digger. (A board between post and base would work equally well.)

What Goes Inside

Two years later, everything stays dry and bug-free. My inventory:

• Pruners
• Trowel
• Gloves (stay clean and dry)
• Pencils, permanent marker
• Blank plant markers
• Small bags with scrap paper (quick seed collecting)
• Paper lunch bags (larger seedheads/bulbs)
• Wire ties, string
• Soap (for soapy-water pest buckets)
• Ruler, measuring tape
• Produce bag (surprise harvests)
• Plant labels (before journal entry)

Whimsy Meets Utility

I love the quirky charm. A flowering vine up the post would be classic—sweet peas didn't take, but bushel gourds thrived. This year, flowering tobacco nestles at the base. I keep the paint simple, but the sky's the limit: sunflower heads for finches, holly berries in fall. Mostly, it's just handy storage within 20 feet of my garden (the shed door is on the wrong side, and sometimes locked).

How lazy am I? Pretty lazy. But not giant-mailbox-for-a-laptop lazy. Yet.

For more creative reuse ideas, visit the Trash to Treasure forum at Dave's Garden. Search "mailbox in the garden" for additional inspiration.