DIY Pallet Garden; How to make Raised Wood Pallet Garden Bed

Have you planted your garden yet? I have the best DIY garden project for you! A raised wood pallet garden bed! It is super easy to make. Took me less than a day to have a number of pallet garden beds ready for planting. And it really cuts down on weeding! Let me show you how!

Why a pallet Garden bed?

We’ve been renting our home for a few years now and I have struggled with my garden. See I’m one of those lucky people who has an amazing landlord who gives me pretty much free reign on projects in the yard. I can do what I want as long as it improves the house. So last year I made a garden. Well, it was the first year. And it also was being converted from a plot of grass. It was hard to get the grass to quit growing and allow the plants to grow. And then to top it all off, I got really sick with adenovirus and whooping cough that lasted a few months. The weeds and grass took over. This year I’m doing things differently. I’m aiming solely at weed control, and ease in gardening. So most of my gardening will be done in these super easy DIY Pallet garden plots.

Pallet Garden supplies

You will need

• Wooden pallets in good condition
• Scissors
• Weed/garden fabric
• Top soil
• Staple gun and staples
• plants for planting

For me the hardest part was simply finding the silly pallets! In our area they aren’t very common. The most ideal way is to get them brand new. But I couldn’t find any places in my area that offer them. So I went looking to recycle pallets for my garden. Many businesses I visited said, “oh we don’t sell or offer our pallets”. But I finally was able to find a few after about a month of searching. But once you find your pallets, the hard part is all but done! I highly recommend reading this great article on Pallet Gardening, that helps you know how to pick out the best pallets for your garden.

With your pallets at home and cleaned we can begin. Turn your pallets over. Then lay the garden fabric across the back. Measure enough to cover the entire back. As well as enough extra on all four sides to cover the ends and overlap at the top. Then trim the fabric from the roll.

Begin stapling the garden fabric to the backside of the wood pallet. I stapled the outer edges first, holding the fabric taut.Then I did additional staples on the main beams that go through the center. Once it is firmly secure, turn the pallet over.

We then begin folding the fabric up to the top of the pallet and stapling it to the top. This seals the pallet and prevents any of the dirt from leaking out of the sides. When you are done you should not have any open spots where dirt can escape except at the top.

Once you have all your pallet garden beds created, move them into place. You want them empty as you are moving them because once they are filled with dirt, they aren’t going anywhere. I ended up rearranging my pallet garden beds multiple times before I was happy with the layout. Once you have them where you want them, start filling them with top soil.

The smaller pallets took about 2 bags of 1 cubic-feet top soil. I used a mixture of Scotts Premium Top Soil and Miracle-Grow Garden Soil. The larger pallets took about double of the smaller pallets. Give or take a cubic foot of soil. That should give you a rough estimate of how much top soil you need. Of course you could just scoop up dirt from your current garden and fill your pallet. But like I said, I’m going for full weed control. Our garden dirt is overloaded with weed seeds and such. I want a fresh start of soil for my garden pallets without weeds already mixed in.

With the wood pallet garden beds filled, you can then start planting. I got a number of plants from our local plant nursery. Strawberries being my top priority!

Then I also planted peas, radishes, green onions, jalepenos and habenaro peppers and Red Bell peppers. Not all of them have sprouted yet, as some were planted from seeds. But give it a while and my pallet garden bed should be full of lush green foods to enjoy this summer!

Things you don’t want to plant in a pallet garden are those that require a deeper root system. This includes plants such as

• Potatoes
• carrots
• beets
• rhubarb
• Regular onions
• Any vegetable that grows down and requires more than 3-4 inches of depth for growth.

Plants that are fantastic to grow in a garden pallet would be:

• Peppers
• Peas
• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Strawberries
• Lettuce
• Basil
• Mint
• Almost any herb
• Flowers
• Basically any plant that grows upwards and uses a shallow root base.

I planted our Tomatoes, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Rhubarb and Raspberries in the same garden plot, but outside of the pallet garden.

To top it all off I added cement flower pots at the edges. I followed the same outline. I layered the bottom of the cement blocks with the garden fabric. Then filled with dirt and planted Marigolds. These flowers are known for helping to keep bugs away from other plants. So I figured it was definitely worth a shot to try this year.

And now you are ready to enjoy your summer of minimal weeding and optimal vegetables! I can’t wait for harvest time! And soon I will be featuring Canning recipes for you as I put up and store our food that come from our garden!

 Do you like the look of a Pallet garden?

What would you plant in your pallet Garden?

Questions? Feel free to ask any questions you have about the pallet garden! I will do my best to answer them all.

 

Looking for more Gardening Projects? You will love

• DIY Raspberry Trellis
• Weed Free Garden Bed
• DIY Weed Barrier
• Always Blooming Flower Garden

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