Pallet Garden: An Easy DIY Gardening Project

For all of us military momma’s who love to garden, but want something simple to do, that’s easy to move (should you choose to take it with you), and is fairly inexpensive (so you won’t cry if you have to leave it behind), this is a great gardening project for you. This project is also perfect for anyone who lives in an apartment, condo, or any place that you have a patio but not a very big yard for a garden. I loving making these and add them to my gardens in the front of my house. They are different, and give a unique look to the average neighborhood gardens. Pallets are pretty easy to find. If you go to your local grocer, or any places that gets large deliveries, they usually have a slew of these behind their building. However, I am not advocating stealing! Please ask to speak to the store manager first to see if they would be willing to give you a pallet or two. Most are, but some stores do reuse them.

(see all project pictures at the bottom of the post)

When you get your pallet home, give a good looks to see if there are any major splinters sticking out of it. If there are, and your little ones are going to be playing around close to where you’ll be posting up your garden you’ll want to give it a quick sanding down. Nothing fancy, just take a rough grit paper and rub your pallet enough to get the major splinters out. Remember this is going to be outside and will be weathered, so it’s not meant to look perfect pretty.

Now, lets gather our supplies.
Here I have:
A quarter sized pallet
A roll of Garden Fabric (the no-grow weed blocker kind)
Staple Gun (or nail gun)
Hammer (just in case)
Flowers
Putting it together:

First turn your pallet over so the backside is facing up. Cut your garden fabric so that it fit’s over the back, and staple it into place. Using a staple gun is fun, so feel free to go wild and use as many staples as you like. You need to make sure that the fabric covers the bottom of the pallet as well, as you will be standing up your garden when finished. The back of my pallet had a huge gap, so I nailed down a board to add extra security to the fabric. Once the pallet is filled with dirt, especially when watered, it’s going to be heavy and I don’t want my fabric to tear. As you can see, I’m a Craftsman Tools using momma.

Now, flip your pallet back over and trim up any excess garden fabric. Time to fill with potting soil. Start with where the bottom of your pallet is. Make sure the pack in your soil tight, so when you lift it up to stand the dirt won’t all slide out. (though some will trickle out anyway) Once you have the dirt filled in behind the first slat of wood, place your flowers in the open area. Pack in as many as you can. This is also what will help to keep your dirt in the pallet. In my first row I used marigolds. Once you have your first row of flowers in place, pack in the dirt behind the next wood slat, and continue as you just did. Pack in the dirt, place the flowers, pack in the dirt, place the flower. Keep going until you reach the top.

Now, take your pallet to the exact area you want it to stand and hoist it up. Once it’s standing, press down very firmly to double check that everything is packed in. Now you’ll want to fill in the top with dirt and plant your last set of flowers. Make sure that when doing this, the flowers that will need to most amount of water are on top, and the flowers that are hearty and low maintenance are towards the bottom. You’ll water your pallet garden from the top and soak it really well so the flowers on top get all that they need and the rest will filter and soak on through to the bottom of your pallet. I used marigolds, zinnias, and petunias in my pallet garden.

I’ve gotten many compliments from my neighbors about my pallet garden. I now have two fulled sized pallets that I will be making succulent gardens out of. I can’t wait to show you when they are finished!!