Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

New Video on Pallet Raised Bed Build from Gardner Scott

I was watching some Gardner Scott videos on tomato trellis options this evening and came upon this new video he just posted on making a small raised bed out of pallet wood. If you are looking for an easy way to build raised beds, this may be of interest to you...

 

[gtaus]

Gardener Scott demonstrated how to tie a string around the base of the plant, tie the other end to the top of the trellis, leaving some slack. As the tomato plant grows you wrap the main stem around the string, helping it climb. However, once my plants started filling out they didn't seem to need any tying.

I watched that video, and a bunch of others, from Gardner Scott on making a tomato trellis for indeterminant tomato plants. He presented two methods of tying the tomatoes off to a twine. The first method was to wrap the vertical twine around the stem every so often as the plant grows. The second method he showed was using tomato clips, which clip on the twine, but you keep the twine straight and don't wrap it around the stem.

The rope/twine method would certainly be a lot easier to build than the wooden trellis system I have been thinking of building.

I found this tomato clips 300 pack on Amazon...

I have never used tomato clips. I wonder if a person could just use cheap zip ties and have them loose, like the clips, on the plant. Seems to me it would be the same. But zip ties that size are like $1.00 per 100 ties on sale and I have bags of them already in the garage.

I think I liked the clip method better. But either method would work if I built a trellis frame like I did last year for Dear Wife's bitter melons. I would just hang down twine to the plants as needed for them to grow up vertically.

I have lots of longer salvaged wood 2X4's to build another trellis like this...

I also have some extra fencing to staple on to that frame if I ever wanted to use it for cucumbers, for example. I know how to easily build that trellis and it is rock solid.

Well, thank you for the suggestion. That twine/string method looks like a lot less work to make compared to some of the other designs I was considering. I think I might try it out this year.

 

[NanaK]

I found this tomato clips 300 pack on Amazon...

View attachment 3774285

I have never used tomato clips. I wonder if a person could just use cheap zip ties and have them loose, like the clips, on the plant. Seems to me it would be the same. But zip ties that size are like $1.00 per 100 ties on sale and I have bags of them already in the garage.

I like to cut strips of cloth from old t-shirts to use as ties for my tomatoes and other plants. I find they do less damage to the stems than plastic or string. T-shirt material allows some give when we have high winds or when plants get heavy as they get larger.

Plus they are free!

 

[fuzzi]

I think I will be moving on to a different build. In my backyard, I have the 4X4 raised garden beds spread out about 5 feet from each other. The idea was that I could run my 48 inch deck riding mower between the garden beds to mow the grass. And, that works out OK. But I still have to come back later with a grass trimmer to cut down the grass that grows up alongside the wood beds.
...
So, I am thinking about making some 2X4 foot pallet wood raised beds to put between the 4X4 raised beds this year. I can still mow between the beds with a push mower, or just use the grass trimmer for everything. Another option I have considered is dropping some weed fabric down on the ground and covering it with free wood chips from the local county landfill. Then I would not have to mow the grass at all. Not sure what I will do in that regards.

I put cardboard down between my raised beds. It works well, and is FREE.

I overlap the cardboard, leaving about an extra inch or so where it meets the bed, so there's no gap between the cardboard and the raised bed. Then I anchor it down with clay pots, but anything with weight, like bricks, would work. Eventually the cardboard gets wet, starts to decompose, and no longer needs to be held down.

 

[fuzzi]

I like to cut strips of cloth from old t-shirts to use as ties for my tomatoes and other plants. I find they do less damage to the stems than plastic or string. T-shirt material allows some give when we have high winds or when plants get heavy as they get larger.

Plus they are free!

I used to do that with my tomatoes, but they didn't need ties with the trellis method.

I cut up old t-shirts and socks to make wraps and ties for my squash plants last year.

 

[NanaK]

For tomatoes I use home made cages made of field fencing. Tops are contained with a weave of strapping material between the posts. Sometimes I have to tie in a wild branch. That's when I like the t shirt ties.

I like the way you grew the squash up right. Great idea.

Last years tomatoes.

 

[fuzzi]

For tomatoes I use home made cages made of field fencing. Tops are contained with a weave of strapping material between the posts. Sometimes I have to tie in a wild branch. That's when I like the t shirt ties.

I like the way you grew the squash up right. Great idea.

Last years tomatoes.View attachment 3774396

Love your tomatoes, and marigolds!

I got the upright squash idea here, I think. I managed to get a squash harvest without poisons, which was wonderful. I'd previously tried injecting BT with limited success.

 

[UrbanHomesteadTX]

I put cardboard down between my raised beds. It works well, and is FREE.
View attachment 3774366
I overlap the cardboard, leaving about an extra inch or so where it meets the bed, so there's no gap between the cardboard and the raised bed. Then I anchor it down with clay pots, but anything with weight, like bricks, would work. Eventually the cardboard gets wet, starts to decompose, and no longer needs to be held down.

I do the same thing with cardboard in the walkway, but I use it as a base and put mulch over it. It works really well! Two years now and havent had to pull any weeds except on the very edges.

 

[chickengr]

I don't know if nails are harder to remove from a dry pallet compared to a "wet" pallet. I think the issue I ran into was the hardness of the wood species I was working with at the time. Maybe someone else knows if dryness affects the difficulty of removing nails from the wood?

all pallets here are made of pine wood.

 

[Smokerbill]

Saw this on CBS Sunday Morning show today.