Pallet Garden Box
Guess what Spring and Summer mean at the Stewart home?! It's project season!!
I can not help but feel giddy when I think of trying out our own little garden for the first time. I can not help but think of the Lord and how gardening represents a new season. A season of hope, growth and faithfulness. And a reminder, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." -Ecclesiastes 3:1 I use to love that verse when I first came across it as a new follower in Christ, but I think it is even more beautiful as I have gone through so many seasons these past 10 years in marriage and motherhood!
When I get a project stuck in my head, I don't usually let it go. I have wanted to build a patio garden box from pallets for 2 years now and FINALLY buckled down and built it! Now, when I say I built it, I need to give you my disclaimer: the men in my life have not been big fans of me owning my own saw, so I either have my Dad help me since he has one, or I have boards pre-cut at Lowes or Home Depot. Let's get to it.
Materials:
- 4 wood pallets
- sawzall with metal cutting blades
- wood screws
- choice of wood treatment (I chose an Eco-safe wood treatment as an organic treatment since I was planting fruits and vegetables)
- sanding block
- mesh weed barrier
- manual staple gun
This project took me about 10-12 hours total (just in building and prepping the box) and I spent around $45.00 before soil, compost and seeds/strawberry plant.
Prying apart the pallets are the WORST part of building something from pallets. If you want to be efficient and cut down on time as much as possible, take a sawzall with metal cutting blades and loosen the nails and then saw through them. This is your golden ticket!
I had a design in my head the entire time, and since my dad spent over 20 years in construction, he is the best at putting logic to my ideas and making them come alive.
- Start by building your box. Mine is 18 x 36.
- I built 4 boxes and then stacked them one on top of the other.
- Next, cut 4 posts for the inside of the box to screw the boxes to the posts to bring them together.
- Then I arranged pallet boards and screwed them on the bottom of the box. My dad made a t-shape support for the bottom of the box... I was not crazy about the way it looked, so I just hide it by attaching boards to the front.
- We made 8- 36 inch legs, then screwed them together 2 at a time in an L-shape so they fit on the corners of the outside of the box. This pretty much completes your box... unless you want it to look a little more aesthetically appealing. ;)
- I ended up taking the boards that had a little more character and placing 4 on top to give it a more finished look and cover up the gaps and corners. I also used a couple boards on the inside of the box to cover up the sides that had some gaps. The boards are obviously not perfect or straight so get creative!
- I had my super cute little interns (Jude & Lila) sand out the jagged edges of our box.
- Then I applied 3 coats of the Eco-safe wood treatment and let it dry for 24 hours.
- I stapled the mesh weed barrier in the inside of the box and then poured in the organic compost, soil and planted our strawberry plant and seeds! We used 4 bags in our box and honestly could have used 2 more. The kids were so excited to plant our seeds and use their new gardening tools that they were not up for making another trip to Lowes. I even gave the guy my box dimensions and he recommended 2 bags... but now I know better for next year.
I get so excited to see the projects in my head come to life! This was more time consuming than I had hoped, but it should give us a few years of gardening fun. Wish us luck on our gardening adventure... I do not own plants because I do not have a green thumb and even the plants that I have had that do not require any attention somehow die around here.
Good news though, we already have spinach and carrots sprouting! Make sure you follow me on instagram @happylittlemessblog so you can see how our gardening ventures turn out this summer! I have also dabbled into snapchat (happylittlemess) and you might just get a glimpse of our day in and day out!
Enjoy the sunshine and projects this season brings!
