Build A Wood Planter From Recycled Wood, AND Water It For Free
Let’s say your backyard is little, and to maximize your space, you want around 7 raised planter beds for your garden. Store bought raised planter beds can cost as little $60 and as much as $500, depending on their style and design. That’s over $400 on the low end. So why not save a tree with less of a carbon footprint than store-bought lumber, practically for free?
A single pallet can build one to two raised beds. You’d be surprised how many local retailers are looking to get rid of pallets. Many post ‘Free’ signs or ads online hoping people will take them away.
Choosing Your Materials
You’ll want to look for the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) stamp on that pallet. If they stamped it with HT (Heat Treated), KD (kiln dried), DB (debarked) or EPAL (European Pallet Association Logo), they are safe for growing edible organic crops. Otherwise, they might have been treated with a harmful pesticide called methyl-bromide. If so, steer clear of those, and avoid painted pallets as well.
Once you get those pallets home, depending what you have on hand, you may need to make a trip to your local hardware store. If you’re worried about spending the money on new tools, think about the long-term investment. Any wood left outdoors will eventually rot, and those tools won’t go to waste when it’s time to rebuild in a few years.
Here are the tools you’ll need:
•Crow bar or deck wrecker
•Saw (I prefer a miter saw for easy quick cuts)
•Tape measurer
•Clamps
•Drill for quick screw driving and easy assembly
•Quart or two of boiled linseed oil
•Rags
•Gloves
•Paintbrush
•Box of screws
•Drill bit sized for pre-drilling your screws
•Screwdriver bit for your drill
•Pencil
The Building Basics
Now that you’ve got your pallet home, you’ll want to yank all the pieces of wood apart and separate them by size. Using crowbar is a cheaper option, but takes more time to get the job done. A pallet breaker/deck wrecker gives you more leverage with its long arm and breaks any pallet apart fast with little effort.
Make sure your tetanus shots are up to date. The separated wood will be full of rusty nails. You can pull them out, clip them back with wire cutters, or saw those sections of wood off. Prying them can be time consuming and frustrating. If you choose to save time and cut them off, you’ll lose a bit of length, but those ends are often split or broken. So throw those scraps in the fire pit and fish out those old rusty nails later.
Use the bulkier pieces of the pallet for the corner braces which will support your bed. Use the thinner planks for the sides. Divide the wood into sections by size and length. Determine how big your bed will be, according to the garden space you have to work with, the dimensions of the lumber you have on hand, and how many raised beds you hope to build. Then get to cutting the wood to the right sizes. Line them all up for assembly, and you’re ready for the next steps.
Assemble Your Materials
Measure and make sure you have the right sized screws on hand. Screws which are too long will poke through and jab you when you are gardening. Screws which are too short won’t hold it all together.
Start with one corner brace (cut to the proper height of your bed). Line up all your planks and clamp them to the corner brace on one end. Two power drills are better than one for this task. Load one drill with a bit appropriately sized for pre-drilling your screw holes. Load the other drill with the correctly sized screwdriver bit. Drill three holes per plank-end to corner brace to prevent shifts or pivoting. Once pre-drilled, drive in the screws. Build out the rest of the box in the same fashion.
Extend The Life of Your Raised Beds
You are going to treat the wood by brushing on boiled linseed oil to get the most life out of them. Linseed oil is flax oil. Boiled linseed oil is food safe since no other chemicals were added to purify it. It will give them a nice golden sheen and has a grassy smell. Use a paint tray and brush on the oil. Avoid using rags. Linseed oil, if left to dry out on a rag it can self combust, presenting a fire hazard. If you use rags to clean up, throw them in the wash straight away. Also wear clothing you don’t care about. Linseed oil stains are hard to get out.
Plot Out Your Garden
Before you fill your beds with dirt, spend some time planning their arrangement in your yard. Decide what crops apply to your growing zone, and whether you want to stroll through your garden and snack daily, or pick and preserve what you cultivate. Lay out a drip works irrigation that feeds from your spigot, and route it from bed to bed, so they’re getting enough water. Setting up a timer with a drip irrigation kit can ensure your beds won’t be neglected, even when you leave town.
If you want to take it even farther and cut down on your water bill, consider getting a splitter, where your rain barrels can feed your garden for free. For the drier months, consider rerouting your condensate drain line from your A/C unit to feed your beds. That’s gallons of free water every day going down the drain. Why not put it to good use? Once you’ve laid your irrigation, and planned which crops you should grow together versus apart for maximum success and self sustainability, only then, commit to pouring in your soil. Once the soil is in, you’re committed to their placement.
What to do with spare lumber? No worries there. Put the extras to good use. Build out a small firewood shed, tomato trellis, a small composting bin, or fencing screens to keep the birds and squirrels out. Fencing, and even chicken wire, can be heavy in bulk, and run you over budget. The best bang for your buck is investing in deer fencing. Take those extra pieces of lumber and build framed deer screens to rest atop your beds.
With these basic principles, you’ll have the skills to innovate and build on from here. Have fun and happy building.