How to Make a DIY Grow Bag for 99 Cents

Here’s one of gardening’s dirty little secrets: growing your own food isn’t as cheap as you think.

Seeds, fertilizer, organic pesticides, soil, gadgets that you just have to have (but not really)…there’s something new to throw your money at every season. If you’re a cheap ass like me (erm, I mean frugal), then you’re going to love this DIY grow bag It’s made from an Ikea bag, burlap, and zip ties. Best part? It only costs about a dollar to make. Well, a dollar and a cup of premium coffee.

But…isn’t burlap expensive? Yeah, sorta. 10 yards of burlap will cost you about $25. Since these Ikea bags are a whopping 19 gallons, you need A LOT of burlap if you want to make more than one container. Buying burlap by the skein also means you’ll have to sew the burlap around your Ikea bag. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

You could just fill the Ikea bag with soil and call it a day but not only will your container look tacky, but the sun will quickly break down the bag. Wrapping your Ikea bag in burlap will help solarize your container and it’ll look cute, too.

I started thinking about where I could get some secondhand burlap and got an idea. Don’t coffee beans come in burlap sacks?

I went to my favorite local coffee shop, got myself a tasty beverage, and asked nicely if they had any old burlap bags they were getting rid of. I walked out with an armful of coffee bean sacks. What a score!

I can’t guarantee that you’ll be as lucky as I was when it comes to free burlap, but your chances are good if you follow a few tips:

Go to a small coffee shop that grinds its own beans. Often, these small shops have tons of sacks destined for the dump. It also feels good to stick it to Big Coffee™ by shopping local.
BUY SOMETHING! A cup of coffee, a bagel, whatever. It’s not nice to ask for a favor without offering something in return.
Don’t go during peak hours. The breakfast and lunch rush is NOT the time to ask for burlap.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but be polite. If the coffee shop says they can’t help you, don’t be a Karen. Say thanks anyways, enjoy your coffee, and try one of the many other coffee shops that are in your area.

How to Make a DIY Grow Bag

Materials:

Ikea Bag (.99 cents in-store, or $1.99 online)
Hot Glue Gun
Burlap Coffee Sack
Zip Ties
Scissors
Twigs, Small Logs, Oak Leaf Compost, etc
Soil

Assembly:

Heat up an empty hot glue gun and poke 12 (or more) holes in the bottom of your Ikea bag. Be careful not to burn yourself!

This container is huge, so it’s important to have good drainage.

Fold your coffee sack in half and stick your Ikea bag inside. You’ll still have 4-6 inches of burlap sticking up over the top. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of this later.

Fill your container halfway to the top with a mixture of twigs, small logs, and oak leaf compost. Practicing Hugelkultur will help you cut down on the amount of soil you’ll need to use to fill your container, ultimately saving you money.

Take the top of your burlap and fold it over the top of your Ikea bag.

Use scissors to cut a hole through your burlap and Ikea bag. Once you’ve gotten through all the layers, pinch your fingers together through the hole to keep it in place.

Thread a zip tie through the hole to fasten the burlap to the Ikea bag. Repeat this step all around the container.

Keep the handles functional by putting a zip tie between where the handles start. When you aren’t using the handles, tuck them down inside your DIY grow bag.

Once you’ve fastened the burlap all the way around your Ikea bag, fill the container the rest of the way with soil.

So there you have it! That’s how I made a DIY grow bag for next to nothing. As an added bonus, it felt good to repurpose coffee sacks that would have ended up in the trash…and the coffee it cost me was freakin’ delicious, too.

Need another project? Make a DIY Oak Leaf Compost Bin!