Making a planter out of some pallets.

A few weeks ago Mr S made me a raised, box tub out of some pallets that we had been given.  Previously he had made me a box out of some scaffolding planks that had been laying around from when we did some work on the house.  Most of my crops have always been grown in tubs or recycled containers.  A lot of my garden is flagged and I like the way that I can move them around to chase the sun.  This improves the growing conditions.  Another benefit of tubs is that I can lift them on to a table to plant and fill so that I do not have to bend over or kneel down.

The only thing is, with the type and amount of pots that I am using now, they can look a bit untidy.  I use builder’s buckets to grow in which cost me £1 each or old toy boxes etc, but they have increased in price recently, and my budget does not run to any more.  Once again, this year, I have increased the amount of food that I want to grow due to the cost of living. Mr S therefore decided to make me some boxes.

He made them at hip height so that I will not have to bend over.  For the one made out of  pallet wood, he did this time he use some old bits of wood that we had laying around in our wood shed, but next time will just use the pallet collars and one of the slats at the top and the bottom of each side.  Basically he built a frame with 4 pieces of wood around the top and 4 pieces around the bottom and nailed planks on to them. The bottom planks were nailed onto the piece of wood at the bottom.  Mr S put little feet onto the corners so that the bottom of the sides would not rot, and put little handles so that I could move them around when empty.  He also used so branches to strengthen the corners.

I painted them with shed paint to preserve them and used breathable fabric on the bottom, and lined them with plastic around the sides to stop them rotting.  These items I had stored already from when we used to have an allotment.  I filled the boxes with rotten logs in the bottom, some twigs on top, cardboard, a load of grape hyacynth leaves that had finished in my garden, some old compost from last year, and a 6 inch lay of new compost which was less than a bag.  It would have cost a lot to fill the box with all new compost.  We also put in a few worms from my compost bin.

I am so please with my new growing room.  They look nicer in my garden and I can grow more crops in the space it would take for about 4 tubs.  This one in the picture has onions, spinach, radish and spring onions growing in it.  In the other tub I have sown carrots, planted beetroot seedlings, and sown chicory.  The fact that the boxes are higher means that carrot fly has less chance of attacking my crop and slugs and snails will have to work harder to get into the boxes.

I am so happy with my boxes and already it is making my gardening easier.  They only cost the price of some screws and staples and look so much nicer in my garden.

Have you made boxes in your garden?  I saw some being advertised locally on the internet already made.  I could not believe the price.( see bottom photo). I think that Mr S is a keeper!  Maybe if we can find enough free pallets this could be a way to make some more money.