Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Smokerbill]

No pallets used but it was free. I found a section of hog wire fence back in the woods behind my house. It was all bent up and I tried to straighten it. I was able to string it along the remaining side of my garden to day. I hope the 3"x6" holes at the bottom will keep the chickens out.

 

[gtaus]

No pallets used but it was free.

Free is good! I think it's great that so many people on the BYC forums are all into reusing free stuff they have laying around the property before going out and buying something new. As you know, I build stuff with free pallet wood, salvaged wood. cull wood, and anything else of value I can find in the backyard - like used chicken wire or fencing for the trellis on the raised garden bed.

I encourage everyone to upload projects they make. Often times we get inspired by ideas shared by others on the forum. At least, I know I do.

 

[gtaus]

I was in Menards this afternoon and went over to the section where they have all those plastic bin totes. The bins were all sold out, but there was a stack of lids 4 feet high remaining. I asked the salesperson if they were excess lids and if they were going to sell them separately. She informed me that lots of people buy the bins and just don't want the lids.

I had to talk to the department manager who wrote me up a special ticket to purchase 5 excess lids without the bins. He informed me that lots of people bought the plastic totes for use as a raised beds and they had no use for the lids. Anyways, he wrote me up a ticket for 5 lids @ $1.99 each, but at the checkout, a manager came over and gave me all 5 of them for $1.99 total! Made my day.

I intend to use those lids for plant starting next year. They are heavy duty and hold water. The cheap plastic 10X20 trays cost over $2.00 each and they break when you look at them. These heavy duty tote lids should last a lifetime for seed starting pots.

I have purchased 5 of these storage totes earlier this year for the garage. So, now I will also have spare lids in case my lids on the bins should ever break.

But, speaking of using these bins as raised beds, according to the manager, it seems lots of people are buying these totes for $10-$25 instead of buying the plastic "raised garden bed kits" for $100.

I'm thinking a person could improve that idea and add a pallet wood frame either around the individual tote or in groups of totes like this...

I'm thinking that if you got a big 40 gallon tote, that you could make an elevated sub-irrigated planter out of the plastic tote, something like this...

Just build a wooden frame and slip in the plastic tote - done!

 

[fuzzi]

I was in Menards this afternoon and went over to the section where they have all those plastic bin totes. The bins were all sold out, but there was a stack of lids 4 feet high remaining. I asked the salesperson if they were excess lids and if they were going to sell them separately. She informed me that lots of people buy the bins and just don't want the lids.

I had to talk to the department manager who wrote me up a special ticket to purchase 5 excess lids without the bins. He informed me that lots of people bought the plastic totes for use as a raised beds and they had no use for the lids. Anyways, he wrote me up a ticket for 5 lids @ $1.99 each, but at the checkout, a manager came over and gave me all 5 of them for $1.99 total! Made my day.

I intend to use those lids for plant starting next year. They are heavy duty and hold water. The cheap plastic 10X20 trays cost over $2.00 each and they break when you look at them. These heavy duty tote lids should last a lifetime for seed starting pots.

I have purchased 5 of these storage totes earlier this year for the garage. So, now I will also have spare lids in case my lids on the bins should ever break.

View attachment 3546008

But, speaking of using these bins as raised beds, according to the manager, it seems lots of people are buying these totes for $10-$25 instead of buying the plastic "raised garden bed kits" for $100.

View attachment 3546013

I'm thinking a person could improve that idea and add a pallet wood frame either around the individual tote or in groups of totes like this...

View attachment 3546018

I'm thinking that if you got a big 40 gallon tote, that you could make an elevated sub-irrigated planter out of the plastic tote, something like this...

View attachment 3546024

Just build a wooden frame and slip in the plastic tote - done!

I love how you think!

 

[gtaus]

I love how you think!

I watched a gardening show about a year ago and the professional landscaper was in charge of making sure that flowers were always in bloom throughout the seasons. What he did was he had lots of large pots dug into the ground around the property. Then, he would place blooming plants in slightly smaller pots and put them in the large pots in the ground. When the plant seasoned out, he already had another plant in a pot in the greenhouse ready to swap out.

Jumping off that idea, I think a person could make some pallet wood enclosures and have different plants that could be swapped out in bins that fit into the pallet wood enclosures. I'm thinking maybe a bin for early peas, peppers for mid-summer, and kale for end of summer into fall. For someone with a limited garden space, that might work out better for them.

It's just a thought....

Of course, you don't need a (pallet wood) wooden enclosure for a plastic bin raised bed garden, but I prefer the look of wood over plastic out in the yard.

 

[gtaus]

Here's an idea of making a raised bed for 5 gallon buckets...

How easy would it be to start the plants indoors and just bring them outside when the temperature is right? If I were to build such a stand, I think I would wrap it in pallet wood on all the sides, leaving the top of the wood level, or just above, the top of the pails.

Something like this, only even having the wood go higher...

Those would be some easy designs to make out of pallet wood.

 

[fuzzi]

Here's an idea of making a raised bed for 5 gallon buckets...

View attachment 3546921

How easy would it be to start the plants indoors and just bring them outside when the temperature is right? If I were to build such a stand, I think I would wrap it in pallet wood on all the sides, leaving the top of the wood level, or just above, the top of the pails.

Something like this, only even having the wood go higher...

View attachment 3546926

Those would be some easy designs to make out of pallet wood.

And raising them that high would not only be easier on the back, but help keep fire ants out of the containers. They invade all my containers.

 

[gtaus]

Last week I planted two of my elevated planters with bean seeds. I love beans. A few days later, I noticed that a squirrel had gotten into the raised bed, dug around in the dirt, and unearthed a number of bean seeds, making a mess out of both planters.

For storytelling purposes, reenactment pictures follow....

Squirrel digging in my newly planted beds...

Do your squirrels mess up your planters and give you that attitude, like this...?

I suppose when you are winning the war, you can just act casually at the scene of the battle.

So, my newest pallet project was to make some squirrel screens for my elevated planter beds. I found some scrap pallet wood 2X4's and a 20 foot stretch of 1 inch chicken wire 24 inches wide. I made a simple 2X4 foot frame with the 2X4's on edge and stapled in the wire with my staple gun.

Picture of the new pallet wood squirrel screen...

Good use of materials I already had on hand, so total cost was free on this build.

Here the squirrel screen is on top of the planter....

The 1 inch chicken wire works great for keeping the squirrels out of the planter. So maybe the bean seeds will have a chance to sprout this time. Once the seeds sprout and grow a bit, the squirrels don't dig up the plants.

I don't know why the squirrels dig in the dirt. I thought maybe they wanted to eat the bean seeds, but I found lots of bean seeds sitting on top of the dirt.

Anyways, here is a picture of an older frame I also use to protect the garden bed, but this one was built with 1/4 inch hardware cloth which doubles as a compost sifter over a wheelbarrow...

I used that compost frame sifter on the wheelbarrow for many years, but it is retired now from that duty because I have converted a cement mixer into a compost sifter. Still, the point is that if you need a compost sifter and also need to make a squirrel screen, I'd go with the 1/4 inch hardware cloth option and make it dual purpose.

Picture of my cement mixer compost sifter for those who may not be familiar with the concept. I had a whole thread on the making of that sifter elsewhere on the forum. If you have lots of compost, this is the way to go....

It's been a couple days since I made the new squirrel screen and covered the planters. I was out this morning and noticed that a few bean seeds have already sprouted up and are poking up in the dirt. I don't know how much damage the squirrels did initially digging in the planter, but with bean seeds, it will not hurt to space out the plantings and put in more seeds in a week for those spots that the seeds did not sprout and/or were eaten by the squirrels.

Like I said, once my plants have sprouted and have grown to the point where I need to remove the 2X4 squirrel screen, the squirrels don't do much damage to my beds. However, if you continue to fight the battle with squirrels eating your produce, you might need a much larger cage to protect your plants, like this picture I got from Google....

Again, that would be an easy pallet wood project for someone. Just make it to the size of your raised bed.

Keep an eye out for those long pallets if your raised beds are longer than 4 feet. Here is a pick up haul I scored of some long pallets earlier this year....

Those 2X4's are 8 feet long so they would be great for a squirrel frame on a larger raised bed. Also, I recently built a pallet wood trellis for my raised bed and used some 6 foot long pallet wood 2X4's in that project. In both projects, you don't need perfect 2X4's because they are not used for structural support. Pallet wood 2X4's can be the perfect choice for you and save you lots of money.

 

[gtaus]

Although not a pallet project per se, here is how I squirrel proofed Dear Wife's eggplants in pots out on the deck. Just used some 6 foot long 4 foot high chicken wire and wrapped wire around the top and side to make a pocket cage, which I then slipped over the pot and plant. It works good.

The thing I like about these chicken wire anti-squirrel cages is that they fold flat for winter storage.

If you don't have to worry about winter storage space, you could easily make a pallet wood frame and staple on chicken wire. Probably look a little better than the all wire cages I made, but these have served us well for 3 years now.

We learned the hard way that squirrels love eggplants. They ate all the young eggplants our first year of growing them in pots out on the deck. These all wire cages have been good enough to keep the squirrels out and we had lots of eggplants since then.

 

[Smokerbill]

I put up a section of pallet fence today to try to keep my chickens contained to the backyard. I used one complete 40" x 10' pallet, and a 43" section of a flimsy little pallet. I stood the short section of pallet on one corner and pushed down to twist it into a parallelogram shape that would follow the slope to the house. A few T-posts, some wire, some plastic fencing, and some free scraps of lumber. The pneumatic narrow crown stapler made attaching the wood and plastic fencing a breeze.