Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[ChicksnMore]

Oh, no. I just assembled them! They were purchased from Greene's Fence Co. (https://greenesfence.com) The one I purchased last year is doing great, so I invested in two more this year.

Here's bed #1 from a week ago:
View attachment 3468203
I live in the very wet and warm (zone 8a) Southeast where most wood rots very quickly. We also have termites, so cedar wood is recommended. If I can get five years out of these beds it is well worth the investment.

I became aware of raised bed planting back in the early 1980s, probably from Rodale. I never used boards but just dug trenches for paths, throwing the dirt on the beds. It worked well for many years. I'm older now, can't bust the sod as I did 40 years ago, so I garden "smarter".

I discovered Hugelkultur last year. There's a very good YT channel that I binge-watched with a master gardener "Scott", think I first learned about it there. (https://m.youtube.com/@GardenerScott)
I didn't have much wood for the bottom so I used small branches and canna lily stalks. Some of them sprouted but eventually I pulled them all. On top of the wood and brush I put a thick layer of dry leaves, then partly-rotted leaves/grass clippings, then some peat moss, Blackow, mostly-rotted compost, and some cheap topsoil from Lowe's. It did well, and when the dirt level dropped a couple inches by Autumn I added leaves. When I got to the bottom of the bed I found nothing but dirt, all the branches had totally decomposed! I added some watermelon rinds, they were gone by the time I planted this year. I'm sold!

The price of a 4x8x14" cedar kit wasn't much more than your estimate, but without the investment I probably wouldn't be gardening as much as I am this year.

We have a sandy clay soil, which needs lots of amendment. When we get mid-summer droughts my flower beds in the ground are like dust, and without adding humus the soil won't hold water.

Enter the compost pile(s)!

We have a third acre in an older suburban area and the yard (not "lawn", "lawn"=grass. Our yard is green and grows) provides us with huge piles of clippings from March to October. We're next to hardwoods on one side, which helps provide us with leaves. Over the last few years we switched from a riding mower to a powered push type with a bagger! My dh dumps the clippings onto a pile which I supplement with cardboard and weeds. I also use the mower to run over piles of leaves from the huge sycamore tree in the front yard.

This year when I set up the two new raised beds I did not buy any soil. I used lots of thick branches, partly-rotted leaves/grass clippings, peat moss, a little remaining Blackow, mostly-rotted compost, wood ashes, and finally dirt from the bottom of the compost pile which I dug from just above the clay soil. I had two bags of peat moss from last year, so I didn't spend money filling the new beds.

Mine doesn't have chicken manure, yet. Think about how lovely my gardens will be after I add some litter from the chicken run.

It's satisfying to use what we are given by God/His nature, and see the results.

This probably should have been posted in the gardening area...oh well.

Think we all love hearing your garden bed experience too!

 

[gtaus]

This probably should have been posted in the gardening area...oh well.

This thread initially was inspired as a spin-off from the gardening thread What did you do in the garden today? Some people there suggested that I attempt to make a thread about my pallet projects related to gardening and maybe extend it beyond just gardening.

Honestly, I just can't keep up with all the daily posts on the gardening thread. So, anything I have the remotely touches on pallet projects and gardening I try to post on this thread.

Oh, no. I just assembled them! They were purchased from Greene's Fence Co. (https://greenesfence.com) The one I purchased last year is doing great, so I invested in two more this year.

Nice link. Thanks. I'm not opposed to people buying kits if it works out for them. I offer how I build my gardening pallet projects out of free pallet wood for those who might enjoy building their own stuff and saving some money using pallet/reclaimed lumber.

I enjoy building stuff with pallet wood. But it's also knowing that I was able to take something that would otherwise fill up the landfill, but I turned it into something that was useful to me. I'm all into trying to reuse or reposed things that we might normally just toss into the trash.

My investment is in the time it takes me to tear apart the pallets and rebuild them into something that I can use and enjoy. I do like the concepts of ready to assemble kits and know that is a better fit for some people. It's all good to me.

If I can get five years out of these beds it is well worth the investment.

When I got into building some of my pallet projects, I was thinking that if I got just 2-3 years out of the build using free wood, then I would be happy. Along the way, I have discovered a number of designs that both extend my expected life of a pallet project build, and, if they do need repair after a few years, I have built some designs that are easier to mend or replace boards that are no longer good.

I became aware of raised bed planting back in the early 1980s, probably from Rodale. I never used boards but just dug trenches for paths, throwing the dirt on the beds. It worked well for many years. I'm older now, can't bust the sod as I did 40 years ago, so I garden "smarter".

I started raised bed gardening about 10 years ago because I live on a lake and have poor quality native sandy soil. The raised bed concept allowed to replace my native soil in a raised bed with much better quality growing medium at a price I could afford.

Speaking of gardening smarter, I built my own elevated sub-irrigated garden beds about 5 years ago. You Greenes link has this to offer...

I built my elevated sub-irrigated garden beds out of pine wood, and they are still holding together going into another growing season. My elevated sub-irrigated garden beds are about waist high and the bin portion is about 16 inches deep. My water reservoir in the bottom of the planter is 3-1/2 inches deep, which give me about 15 gallons of water for the plants to drink up. In a normal summer with average rainfall, I only refill the planters maybe once a month.

Because of the sub-irrigation method, it never gets over or underwatered. The plants just drink what they need. All I do is watch my water level gauage and refill it when necessary. Those elevated sub-irrigated planters are my best producing way of growing food.

When I built them, I had a brother who was in a wheelchair. And I was wondering how a person in a wheelchair could still enjoy gardening while confined to sitting in a wheelchair. So, I built my sub-irrigated planters with that in mind.

I discovered Hugelkultur last year.

We had a terrible drought summer two years ago. The only plants that lived long enough to produce any food were in my hügelkultur raised beds. I got into using the hügelkultur method maybe 8 years ago. But it was until we had that terrible drought summer that I truly understood the advantages of the hügelkultur method.

There's a very good YT channel that I binge-watched with a master gardener "Scott", think I first learned about it there. (https://m.youtube.com/@GardenerScott)

I watch his channel all the time.

...and when the dirt level dropped a couple inches by Autumn I added leaves. When I got to the bottom of the bed I found nothing but dirt, all the branches had totally decomposed!

I use some bigger, heavier, tree trunk rounds (mayb 6-8 inches thick) in the bottom of my hügelkultur beds. They don't decompose as fast as the loose organic layers of debris or small branches and wood chips would compost. But the bigger rounds act like a sponge, holding water, for many years as they decompose, In theory, as the thicker rounds break down, they become more sponge like and actually work better than when fresh.

In order to take advantage of the thicker tree trunk rounds, my raised beds are 16 inches high. About 8-10 inches of heavy wood in the bottom, a nice layer of lose organics on top of that and to fill in the voids, then a mix of good quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1 for the top 6-8 inches. As the bed level drops from decompostion, I just amend each year with additional chicken run compost. It works really well for me.

The price of a 4x8x14" cedar kit wasn't much more than your estimate, but without the investment I probably wouldn't be gardening as much as I am this year.

Ah yes, money and time considerations. I am more inclined to invest in something that allows me to enjoy my hobbies while I am still in relatively good health.

We have a sandy clay soil, which needs lots of amendment. When we get mid-summer droughts my flower beds in the ground are like dust, and without adding humus the soil won't hold water.

Again, the larger tree trunk rounds in my hügelkultur beds act like a giant sponge in the bottom and the chicken run compost holds water pretty well in the topsoil layer.

Over the last few years we switched from a riding mower to a powered push type with a bagger! My dh dumps the clippings onto a pile which I supplement with cardboard and weeds. I also use the mower to run over piles of leaves from the huge sycamore tree in the front yard.

I have not hauled out any organic matter from my property in about 20 years. Everything gets used, and reused here. Most loose organics gets tossed in the chicken run and the chickens turn it into compost for me. I have one riding mower with collection bins to mow up all my grass clipping and leaves. That all gets turned into compost in the chicken run to feed my gardens.

I still have about 5 pallet wood compost bins that I use for excess stuff and/or things I don't want to toss into the chicken run - like moldy food. I just fill them, maybe one bin per year, and let them sit until they are ready to harvest. No turning or extra work goes into that effort with the pallet wood compost bins.

This year when I set up the two new raised beds I did not buy any soil. I used lots of thick branches, partly-rotted leaves/grass clippings, peat moss, a little remaining Blackow, mostly-rotted compost, wood ashes, and finally dirt from the bottom of the compost pile which I dug from just above the clay soil. I had two bags of peat moss from last year, so I didn't spend money filling the new beds.

Since I started making raised beds out of pallet wood, my only remaining expense is buying topsoil by the trailer load. I mix that topsoil with chicken run compost to both reduce the cost and also to increase the quality of the soil for the raised beds.

Mine doesn't have chicken manure, yet. Think about how lovely my gardens will be after I add some litter from the chicken run.

It's satisfying to use what we are given by God/His nature, and see the results.

Chickens, compost, and gardening just go together so well. Over the past 3 years, I have been moving my garden from the lakefront to my backyard where I have my chicken coop and run. It just makes so much more sense to have the gardens next to the composting in the chicken run. The more I learn to work with nature, the less effort it takes me and the more successful I become.

Well, thanks for all your comments on this subject and for giving me an opportunity to respond.

 

[Sally PB]

I use some bigger, heavier, tree trunk rounds (mayb 6-8 inches thick) in the bottom of my hügelkultur beds.

We had a big (14-16" dia) old apple tree finally die and fall over. DH cut it into chunks about 10-12" long, and I buried them in my heavy clay soil garden last spring. I marked their location and grew my tomato plants in set of 4 around them.

Those spots stayed green longer, but we had decent rainfall last summer, so I didn't have to water as much as the year before. The wood was still fairly solid too; I'm thinking this year it'll have broken down a bit and hold water better.

Unrelated...
When we got our Cub Cadet mower a year ago, it was in a crate. No sides/top/bottom, just secured to the pallets. One of my projects this upcoming week will be to dismantle all the pieces. The wood is not very thick; the strength of the crate was it being all nailed/screwed together, and having a mower secured to it on the inside. But we'll see what I get.

What I'll get is my garage bay back, that's what I'll get!

 

[fuzzi]

Well, thanks for all your comments on this subject and for giving me an opportunity to respond.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to respond.

We have three trees down on the property, one is a Widow-maker. I'm not going to touch them. One of my goals this year is to get a professional to cut up the trees and remove them from on top of our fence. I might keep some of the log sections for future Hugelkultur, though.

And then get help repairing the chain link fence!

 

[chickengr]

I need to build a summer coop next to the future garden. I need chickens to work there. they should clear the area before I start. I have some 4 yo pallets.

 

[gtaus]

We have three trees down on the property, one is a Widow-maker. I'm not going to touch them.

I have said one of "superpowers" is that I have been able to realize when a tree felling job is beyond my current abilities and to admit when a fallen tree is too dangerous for me to take down by myself. Stay safe and enjoy life.

 

[gtaus]

Those spots stayed green longer, but we had decent rainfall last summer, so I didn't have to water as much as the year before. The wood was still fairly solid too; I'm thinking this year it'll have broken down a bit and hold water better.

I have read that it can make a difference in which way you lay down the tree trunks in a planter. For example, if you think of the wood in a tree as a bunch of straws bound together to transport water up the tree, then you put a tree round into a planter vertically, so the water can be sucked up through the straws of the wood. If lay the tree trunk round horizontally, it does not convey the water as well. Having said that, my strategy in my hügelkultur raised beds is to lay the wood horizontally, and each year, as it decomposes, it becomes more sponge like.

Again, I never really noticed much difference in my raised beds until we had that terrible drought summer and only my hügelkultur raised beds plants survived to produce any food. It kind of made me a believer out of the hügelkultur concept of water storage in the logs.

 

[gtaus]

I need to build a summer coop next to the future garden. I need chickens to work there. they should clear the area before I start. I have some 4 yo pallets.

IIRC, Justin Rhodes had a number of YouTube videos on using his chickens in mobile coops to work up a piece of land that he soon later used as a garden bed. We all know, that given a little time, the chickens will eat and scratch everything down to bare dirt, fertilizing the ground with their poo as they work.

For tougher bush, or for faster conversion, Justin would use his pigs to turn up the grounds.

Are you going to use your pallets as fencing, or the coop, or maybe both?

 

[Sally PB]

tree round into a planter vertically,

I put them in the ground vertically. They were "slices" of 12-14" dia trunk about 8" thick. That was in my heavy soil garden.

In my sandy soil garden, I dug long trenches and filled them with logs laid horizontally, and used whatever wood I could find.

fixed my directional error. lol

 

[gtaus]

In my sandy soil garden, I dug long trenches and filled them with logs laid horizontally, and used whatever wood I could find.

Is that an in-ground garden, or a raised bed garden? I have seen a number of YouTube videos of people digging a trench and filling it with logs, branches, organic material, etc... to make a hügelkultur mound.

My approach has been to make my raised garden beds 16 inches high, so I don't have to bend over very much to tend the bed. I just fill the base of the raised bed with hügelkultur wood. I don't dig any trench. I put the logs on the grass and build everything up from there.

I used to put cardboard down first on the grass, but I don't see how anything on my grass is going to grow up through 16 inches of raised bed materials. If I have cardboard to get rid of, then I'll lay it down in the raised bed floor. If I don't have any cardboard, I don't worry about it. Maybe if the raised bed was only 6 inches high, there might be a chance of grass growing up through the raised bed soil, but at 16 inches tall for my raised beds, I have never had anything growing up from beneath.

I have to start my spring cleanup this week. Over the winter, I had one ~40-foot-tall pine tree get blown over and laying on the ground. I had a few big branches (about 6 inches round) on one tree break and are hanging in the wind. Another tree has some smaller 3-inch round branches that cracked and will have to be removed. Additionally, I have a ~60-foot-tall pine tree that I want to take down this year. So, I'll have plenty of hügelkultur wood to get rid of in new pallet wood raised beds this year.