My lazy no-bend shipping pallet garden

[NariaDreaming]

I have no shame in admitting that my garden was built to minimize the amount of physical effort I have to put into tending it.

That and the fact that our home is built on a 150 year old landfill, and I wouldn't trust food growing out of that dirt (shudder)


We currently have 5 of these beds, and my husband is building me another 3 this season. We've covered the ground between the beds with wood chips, and in the middle of the garden is a fire pit

We're putting up a new fence (hopefully) this summer, and relocating our garden shed/potters shed into the garden area.

[mlal78]

Well isn't that a smart idea!

[NariaDreaming]

The only downside is that during the peak of summer (we have hot, humid, but not super rainy summers) we end up watering 2x a day. Since there's only 14" of soil and it's exposed to the air on all sides, it gets dry SUPER quick.

I'm thinking about putting in soaker hoses this year to cut down on the amount of watering.

We're also getting a new roof on the house, so I'll be putting in 5 rain barrels for our flower gardens in the front of the house to hopefully cut down on water costs.

[octoberstars]

That's so pretty! Did you pull them apart then build them, or are those just the pallets standing on end? Great idea.

[mlal78]

Naria, rain barrels are great. We have one big one and we use it all summer to water all the pots.

[NariaDreaming]

Feb 5, 2015 9:21:18 GMT -5 octoberstars said:

That's so pretty! Did you pull them apart then build them, or are those just the pallets standing on end? Great idea.

They're just standing on end. And the bottom is suspended from the slats with room to hold about 18" of soil total.


We used pallets from a window company so we knew they hadn't hauled toxic chemicals



They don't look as pretty after 3 seasons- I may sand and shellac them this summer

When DH builds my additional ones this spring I'll try and get pictures of them in process.

[octoberstars]

NariaDreaming is be curious as to how long they will last. I made some planters with scrap pressure treated decking, but have concerns about how the chemicals may leach into the edibles. I like your pallet idea though, nice and tall gardens. I may steal that idea this year. They are probably easy enough to replace when the time comes. I need to set up Soaker hoses this year too. Pretty soon I'm going to need more spigots!

[NariaDreaming]

Feb 5, 2015 9:42:35 GMT -5 octoberstars said:

NariaDreaming is be curious as to how long they will last. I made some planters with scrap pressure treated decking, but have concerns about how the chemicals may leach into the edibles. I like your pallet idea though, nice and tall gardens. I may steal that idea this year. They are probably easy enough to replace when the time comes. I need to set up Soaker hoses this year too. Pretty soon I'm going to need more spigots!

I'm hoping to get at least 6 seasons out of them. The landscaping fabric used to keep the dirt in is 30 year fabric (LOL) so when the time comes I figure I'll just transfer all of the soil to the utility trailer, carefully remove the lsanscaping fabric, tear the old one down (and use for firewood) and build a new one in it's place, re-install the fabric, and put the dirt back in.

[octoberstars]

Ah landscaping fabric that makes sense. Antique fabric too! I was so excited to fill my beds last year that I left out the fabric. Big mistake.

[4furrypaws]

LOVE it!

We have a faucet in the garage that is hooked up to a well. If we didn't have that I would determinately have rain barrels too!

[silentsara]

Those are awesome. My dh has access to all the pallets he wants (what a perk, huh?). I'm going to get him to build these for me. Our lot has lots of shade and then I can put them wherever the sun hits best.

Do you grow everything in these?

[NariaDreaming]

Feb 5, 2015 18:45:08 GMT -5 silentsara said:

Do you grow everything in these?

Yes. yes we do. Though I may try to do melons this year in straw bales. They just take up so much room and they don't cascade down the side well.

[rubysi]

These are the planters dh made me... With the dog fencing dang digging dog.... if she wasn't so flicking cute.


The dog in question

[agpjt413]

Feb 5, 2015 9:25:09 GMT -5 mlal78 said:

Naria, rain barrels are great. We have one big one and we use it all summer to water all the pots.

They've helped us, too!!! We just plant so much that it doesn't make any sense NOT to have rain barrels! (we have two 75 gal each and one 100 gal).

[agpjt413]

These are awesome, NariaDreaming!!

[agpjt413]

Feb 5, 2015 20:40:19 GMT -5 rubysi said:

These are the planters dh made me... With the dog fencing dang digging dog.... if she wasn't so flicking cute.


The dog in question

Adorable!!! Neat planters too!!