Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[ChicksnMore]

That's an interesting thought. I know that without lining, the wet soil will be directly in contact with the wood. If I put a barrier between the soil and the wood, that direct contact would be broken. But would you trap moisture against the wood? I don't know.

Here is a guy who sells raised bed liners, claiming that they preserve the wood longer...

But then I found this article on Should You Line A Raised Garden Bed? (4 Things You Need To Know) which states that a raised bed liner will cause the wood to rot faster - which answers your question affirmatively.

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Maybe where you live has the greater effect on the benefits of using a raised bed liner, or not. Where I live in northern Minnesota, it's the opposite of hot and humid. Having said that, I have never lined any of my wooden raised beds and they are still rot free after 5+ years. Using untreated pallet wood, I can expect 3-5 years of rot free service according to the sources I have found. In my backyard, the oldest pallet wood raised beds are going on year 4 and have no signs of rot.

One of the advantages to building your own pallet wood raised beds is that you know how to repair it if/when a board rots out. Here is a picture of one of my pallet wood raised beds v2.0 up on some sawhorses in process of being built...

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You can see how the pallet planks are on the inside of the 2X4 outer framing. The main advantage in that design is that the soil will be pushing outwards against the planks, into the stronger 2X4's, and I should never see any sidewall blowouts as many people have discovered if they put the planks on the outside of the 2X4 framing.

If a pallet plank rots out, I can simply remove that piece and put in a new one, or if not too badly rotted out, I could maybe just slip another pallet plank piece inside the original which would never show looking from the outside.

Frankly, these pallet wood raised beds v2.0 are holding up much better than I had hoped. My current plan is to use them until they fall apart and just replace the whole raised bed at that time. It costs me less than $2.00 to build each one of these raised beds and I can build one in less than an hour.

Getting back to your concern about lining the small planter with a chicken feed bag and would that just cause the wood to rot faster... I think I won't line the planters after looking into this issue. Thank you for asking that question. Again, these small planters take me less than half an hour to build and cost practically nothing out of pocket for me, so why put a liner in them when they might only cause the wood to rot faster? Probably not worth it.

I think where I am at least, a liner would be worth it for the amount of water it keeps in the soil. My unlined/unsealed wood beds are a bleep to keep hydrated enough for plants in the summer.

 

[gtaus]

I think where I am at least, a liner would be worth it for the amount of water it keeps in the soil. My unlined/unsealed wood beds are a bleep to keep hydrated enough for plants in the summer.

I know the desert of Arizona is a lot hotter than what I have here in Minnesota. I can see where a liner would help keep some of that water inside the raised bed.

Do you use the hügelkultur raised bed method? That's what I do on all my raised beds. The hügelkultur logs in the bottom of the raised bed act like a giant water battery, or sponge, releasing water to the plants as they need it.

A few years ago, we had a terrible drought summer. I don't think we had any rainfall from early May until sometime in September. All my in-ground garden plants dried up and died. All my "regular" raised beds dried up and died. I didn't have running water out in my garden at that time.

The only garden beds that continued to produce were my hügelkultur raised beds. I got maybe 70% of a normal crop that year from my hügelkultur raised beds but compared to 0% in my other gardens and raised beds, that was a success. Since then, all my raised garden beds use the hügelkultur method with logs in the bottom half of the beds. It was not until we had that terrible drought summer that I was able to experience for myself the benefits of the hügelkultur method for raised beds.

I think if I lived in a desert area, I would probably use both a liner and the hügelkultur method to increase the water retention of the raised beds.

 

[gtaus]

Useful Inexpensive Shop Tool - Telescoping Magnetic Pick-Up Tool

I have been breaking down pallets in my garage this past week. Occasionally, a pallet nail might go flying, hit the floor, and either roll under a cabinet or between benches where I cannot easily reach it. That happened to me a number of times this past week.

Because I am working in my car garage, I need to account for every stray nail (or screw), or risk it showing up one day in my car's tire causing it to go flat at the worst possible time. So, no matter what I'm doing, I immediately stop and look for that missing nail.

I have found that my telescoping magnetic pick-up tool the best for those jobs. I have a few different kinds, but here is just a sampling from Menards that I have purchased in the past...

The telescoping magnetic pick-up tools I have extend from 7 to 30 inches. Because they have a small magnetic head, they have no problems getting between my benches or under the rolling cabinets. When I am breaking down pallets, I keep one of these pick-up tools on my metal JawHorse ready for use if needed.

Oh yeah, no bending over required if you use these pickup tools with their long 30 inch reach. Big bonus for some of us of mature age! Less bending over to pick up nails off the floor = more time spent working on my projects and sleeping better at night. Some of you might understand me on that issue.

Bonus deal, I purchased these pick-up tools at Menards for FREE after rebates. Every once in a while, Menards had them on sale for less than a dollar or even FREE after rebates. If you play the rebate game, that is the time to buy them.

Every time I used my magnetic pick-up tool this past week to fish out a stray nail, I said to myself that I totally got my money's worth out of that FREE tool!

 

[ChicksnMore]

I know the desert of Arizona is a lot hotter than what I have here in Minnesota. I can see where a liner would help keep some of that water inside the raised bed.

Do you use the hügelkultur raised bed method? That's what I do on all my raised beds. The hügelkultur logs in the bottom of the raised bed act like a giant water battery, or sponge, releasing water to the plants as they need it.

A few years ago, we had a terrible drought summer. I don't think we had any rainfall from early May until sometime in September. All my in-ground garden plants dried up and died. All my "regular" raised beds dried up and died. I didn't have running water out in my garden at that time.

The only garden beds that continued to produce were my hügelkultur raised beds. I got maybe 70% of a normal crop that year from my hügelkultur raised beds but compared to 0% in my other gardens and raised beds, that was a success. Since then, all my raised garden beds use the hügelkultur method with logs in the bottom half of the beds. It was not until we had that terrible drought summer that I was able to experience for myself the benefits of the hügelkultur method for raised beds.

I think if I lived in a desert area, I would probably use both a liner and the hügelkultur method to increase the water retention of the raised beds.

I do use hugelkultur. Absolutely love it. Think I need to dig out my two biggest beds and replace the wood though. Makes me wish I'd made them smaller. Those two are about six foot diameter and about 3 feet deep. Everytime I think about trying to renew the wood layer I suddenly feel old

 

[gtaus]

I do use hugelkultur. Absolutely love it. Think I need to dig out my two biggest beds and replace the wood though. Makes me wish I'd made them smaller. Those two are about six foot diameter and about 3 feet deep. Everytime I think about trying to renew the wood layer I suddenly feel old

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. Are those raised beds that are 3 feet deep or a mound type of bed?

From what I understand, if you use larger logs, they should last for many years before they need to be replaced. Smaller logs and branches would break down much faster, of course, but I use 6-8 inch round logs in the bottom of my raised beds. I think they will last about 15 years, but I'm not sure. How long have you had your hügelkultur setup that you feel you need to change out the wood? And what size wood/logs did you use? Just curious for my own knowledge. Thanks.

 

[fuzzi]

I think where I am at least, a liner would be worth it for the amount of water it keeps in the soil. My unlined/unsealed wood beds are a bleep to keep hydrated enough for plants in the summer.

Do you mulch?

We're hot and wet here, but during the summer I mulch because the water gets taken up so quickly by the plants.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. Are those raised beds that are 3 feet deep or a mound type of bed?

From what I understand, if you use larger logs, they should last for many years before they need to be replaced. Smaller logs and branches would break down much faster, of course, but I use 6-8 inch round logs in the bottom of my raised beds. I think they will last about 15 years, but I'm not sure. How long have you had your hügelkultur setup that you feel you need to change out the wood? And what size wood/logs did you use? Just curious for my own knowledge. Thanks.

They're raised beds with side walls. I set them up....over five years ago but I can't remember exactly when. My oldest probably remembers. I used smaller wood because that's all I had. I think the biggest diameter was about the same as yours...branches rather than trunk wood. I have some good size logs now from trunk wood and roots I got from a neighbor. Most of the original wood I used was palo verde and it's soft wood that rots fast. What I have now is mesquite and acacia...much harder. I've just got to get the beds dug up to add it.

I've learned the wood you use makes a big difference. Soft versus hard as well as chunk size. I don't know how palo verde compares to pine but I suspect it's much softer. Most of my original wood came from large branches that died on the tree and naturally fell off or I trimmed off. Palo Verde is the only tree I've seen where thick branches around 10-12 inches thick die and crack off the main trunk by themselves. We do have Palo Verde boring beetles that play a role, but I think mostly it's just extra weak, soft wood.

Editing to add the reason I think the woods rotted out is how fast the soil dries out. When I built the beds I could water lightly every few days. Last summer the plants needed watered daily and still struggled in our high heat.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Do you mulch?

We're hot and wet here, but during the summer I mulch because the water gets taken up so quickly by the plants.

Yes to mulch! Couldn't live without it.

 

[gtaus]

Do you mulch?

We're hot and wet here, but during the summer I mulch because the water gets taken up so quickly by the plants.

Yes, I think mulch would really help to conserve water in the soil. I am not quite sure how that effects the plants taking up water so quickly? I thought we use mulch to slow down/prevent water evaporating from the soil surface.

In any case, after my plants are growing strong and are high enough, I cover my pallet wood raised beds and planters with about 2 inches of mulch, usually a mix of something like wood chips and dried grass clippings which I have on hand. Actually, I think I like the dried grass clippings better because they can break down and add nutrients to the soil.

The wood chips are good top mulch cover, but you don't want to mix them into the topsoil because they can deplete the nitrogen at the surface which is used to break down the wood chips. You want that nitrogen to be used to feed the plants.

Another option I have seen is using a black plastic cover over a raised bed. I think that would be really easy to staple down a plastic cover on the raised bed and then cut our holes where you want to put your plants.

Google picture of that method...

Although I prefer the organic mulches, I not opposed to anyone using a plastic cover for their gardening if it works for them. There is a neighbor down the road a bit that has a large in-ground garden and they have the entire garden covered with black plastic - for years - so I am assuming that it works for them.

 

[gtaus]

Speaking of wood chips, pallets, and gardening...

You guys got me to thinking about the possibility of using my bits and pieces of off cut pallet wood and turning them into useable wood chips for the garden and/or use in the chicken coop or run. At present, I just dump those bits and pieces into a fire ring and burn them. Seems to me that's just a waste of materials.

I have a small electric SunJoe wood chipper that I basically don't use much anymore....

When I bought that chipper, I was planning on chipping small branches from trees I cut down, or small branches that fall off the trees. Turns out that the amount of work required to chip up branches exceeded the amount of wood chips I got. And then I found I could get free wood chips at our local country landfill by the trailer full. It only takes me about 20 minutes to load up my trailer full of wood chips. If I used my electric woodchipper to make that many wood chips, it would literally take me days and days.

Although this is a not a review of that woodchipper, just let me say that it is only good for small branches and, in my experience, the blades have to be sharpened or replaced about every 2-3 hours of run time. That gets expensive to replace the blades, and nobody wants to sharpen those blades for what they cost. So, you have to figure out how to sharpen the blades yourself unless you have an unlimited budget. Also, they are not honest with you in how much work and effort is required using these small woodchippers for the amount of useable wood chips you get out of it. It's a long, slow process to make wood chips with these small woodchippers. I used that woodchipper quite a bit the first year I got it, but after I found out that I could get free wood chips by the trailer full at our country landfill, I just put that woodchipper in storage.

But now I am wondering if I could run those small pallet wood bits and pieces through that electric woodchipper instead of burning them? I'll have to get my chipper out of storage and give that a try. I currently have a 5-gallon bucket full of pallet wood off cuts that I was going to burn in the fire ring next time I want a fire.

I'll update with a post if/when I find that woodchipper and run some pallet wood bits and pieces through it. Frankly, I am suspecting that the pallet wood pieces will probably just jam the small woodchipper. But I won't know until I try. Later on that experiment...