Whiskey Barrel Goes to the Big Patio in the Sky

Some years ago, and I would suppose it to be probably about 12 years ago, I purchased a whiskey barrel from one of the big box home improvements stores to use as a planter.  When I purchased the barrel, I purchased a plastic liner designed specifically to be used inside of the whiskey barrel for planting.  Once the plastic liner was filled with garden soil and planted, I did not move it.  Not because I didn't have use for it elsewhere in the landscape but more because it was too heavy to move.  I noticed a few weeks ago as I started to make my way into the back yard that the wooden barrel was looking a little worse for the wear.  This past weekend I got a better look at just how bad the problem was.

The poor thing has just had it.  You can see that the bottom of the barrel is nearly completely rotted away.  When I removed the dirt and the plastic liner and turned it over, the entire bottom of the barrel had disintegrated.  There was a perfect round circle of what appeared to be very rich, dark planting soil.  Any remnant of it having once been a slatted wooden bottom had long since passed.

So I rolled it, ever so gently, to the side yard so that it can be placed curbside for pickup on Friday.

As you can see above, it did not fare so well.  Once on the other side of the fence, it started to fall apart.

The plastic liner is still in good shape, but I have no need for it.  Better that it be recycled into something useful than to sit in my garden shed taking up valuable space.

Thank you, Whiskey Barrel, for your years of service.