Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

What will you do with all that black gold?

This winter, in my garage, I built another four 4X4 foot pallet wood raised beds. I have just put them into place and leveled each bed off. My garden area there is on a slope, so the ground is not level, but the individual raised beds are now level.

The raised beds might not look even in the following photo, but they are. They just are not level with each other, if that makes sense. And the angle of this photo distorts some of the perspective,too...

The fourth raised bed is not in this photo. It went at the end of another row in the garden.

Today, I have been out filling up all the raised beds with hügelkultur logs for the base, then I will add a layer of organic materials to fill in the gaps, then the top 6-8 inches will be filled with a topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1.

I have four of those 4X4 foot raised beds plus the two 2X4 foot raised beds along the chicken run fence to fill with new stuff. Plus, I have something like another 8 raised beds from previous years that will need some top offs of compost.

I think I mentioned that I plan on setting up my cement mixer compost sifter in a week or two. That will give me plenty of time to fill up the new beds and top off the old ones. I will be using lots of my black gold compost this year!

 

[Sally PB]

Roughly 3/4 cubic yard apiece. I bet you'll have enough compost to fill all of them with just compost!

 

[gtaus]

I can see it now on Craig's List:

Will trade black gold chicken compost for lumber...

A few years ago, I gave away a couple loads of compost to my good neighbors that had a three small, raised beds out in their yard. But then they sold their house and moved to Montana. The new owners took out the raised beds and replanted lawn grass.

Well, it's worth it to me to have as much black gold compost on hand as I would ever need. I used to buy compost in large bags at our big box stores for about $5-$6 per bag. Now, I harvest a couple hundreds dollars worth of compost twice a year from my chicken run. I have more than doubled my raised beds in the since I converted my chicken run into a composting system. And I have added yet more beds this year.

IMHO, my homegrown compost is of much higher quality than the bags of compost I used to buy. Not that I'm an expert on the composting subject, but my chicken run compost does not come with bits of metal, glass or plastic like I would find in the store bought bags! I'm sure there are many people out there who know what I mean about those commercial bags of compost.

 

[gtaus]

Roughly 3/4 cubic yard apiece. I bet you'll have enough compost to fill all of them with just compost!

I'm no expert in gardening. I talked to the owner at one of our local nurseries who has a degree in that type of stuff, and he told me to mix topsoil and compost 1:1. Something about the soil provides some structure or nutrients that the compost lacks and vice versa. Together, it's the winning combination.

I have been mixing topsoil with chicken run compost in my new beds for the last three years and my plants are really growing well. For the yearly top offs, that's just fresh black gold compost that I put on top of the bed and maybe mix it in just a bit with my small cultivator.

 

[Sally PB]

Something about the soil provides some structure or nutrients that the compost lacks and vice versa. Together, it's the winning combination.

Yes!

 

[gtaus]

Using Pallet Wood Scraps in my Hügelkultur Raised Beds

A while back I was saying that I had a lot of 5-gallon buckets full of pallet wood scraps and cut offs from building my new raised beds. They get to the point where I need to get rid of them so I have room in my garage to build stuff.

At that time, I was dumping the pallet wood bits and pieces into my fire ring and burning them. Maybe not the best option, but at least I am burning down a stump in the process.

Someone mentioned that I could use those bits and pieces of pallet wood cut offs when I fill my raised beds with hügelkultur wood. I thought that was a great idea!

Here is a picture of one of my new pallet wood raised beds filled with logs...

As you can see, there are still lots of gaps and spaces to fill in. So, I dumped about five 5-gallon buckets full of pallet wood scraps into this bed...

What do you think? I think it's a great idea for using up all those bits and pieces of pallet wood that I don't have any other use for at this time. I was able to fill in a lot of those gaps and spaces. When I add the organic layer on top of that wood, I will work some of the organics down even more in the voids.

I feel good about using those pallet wood cut offs in the hügelkultur raised beds rather than just burning them. Plus, I cleaned up a lot of floor space in my garage today! I cannot remember who suggested the idea of using the pallet wood cut offs in my raised beds but thank you just the same.

 

[Swiss]

It's not pretty, at it sure ain't perfect, but I built a bigger brooder for the chicks:

The screws were a smidge too long, so I need to cut off the protruding sharp bits. Once that is done, I can finish setting it up and move the chickies in! They haven't outgrown the current brooder, exactly, but when they practice flying (which feel like constantly), it's a bit.... less than ideal for chicks in the LZ (which is most of the brooder).

 

[gtaus]

I just want to say a few words about some tools I used to cut trenches in the ground to level off my pallet wood raised beds. Take a look at this picture with the highlighted boxes...

The first thing I was going to use to trench out the lawn for the raised bed was my edger shovel. Those are really nice because the blade is perfectly flat, and you can follow a line with no problem. I have used it before on a number of jobs where the trenching had to be straight. It works great for that specific job.

Here is the edger shovel I bought from Menards a few years ago...

I trenched out the first raised bed using the edger shovel and it worked fine. The only thing I would complain about is that it was slow going and I thought I could get the job done faster.

Since the ground I was digging into was soft lawn grass, no rocks, I decided to take out my reciprocating saw with a 9-inch pruning blade. That is my go-to tool for cutting out roots around stumps. That was a better choice for this job as the reciprocating saw with the pruning blade cut through the lawn grass like a hot knife through butter. Took me almost no time to cut the trenches, and then I used the edger shovel to remove the sod.

I suppose most people think of using the reciprocating saw with a pruning blade to prune branches...

That was my main pruning combo for about 20 years. However, last year I purchased one of those small 6-inch pruning chainsaws and that is what I use for above ground pruning these days.

Picture of my 6-inch pruning chainsaw...

You would never want to run any chainsaw into the dirt for cutting out roots, or trenches. That would destroy the chainsaw. So, I still have a reciprocating saw with pruning blade ready to go for cutting out roots in the dirt. Cutting into the dirt will certainly dull the pruning blade, but it does not damage the reciprocating saw itself. The pruning blades are relatively cheap and replaceable.

If my soil I wanted to trench was full of rocks, I think the better option would have been to stay with the edger shovel. But for soft soil, the reciprocating saw cut through the sod like nothing and I was done in no time with the pruning blade.

I used that small pruning chainsaw most of today when I was filling up the raised beds with hügelkultur wood. I used it to cut smaller pieces of wood to fill the gaps and voids. It is a tool that makes it easy to hold the wood in one hand and the saw in the other to cut it. My reciprocating saws and other chainsaws are all made for both hands on the tool. I find it really useful to have a one-handed tool for cutting those smaller (4-inch or less) branches.

I managed to level off and fill six raised beds in a matter of hours thanks to some of the power tools I own. In my younger days, I don't imagine I would mind too much using manual tools and working harder on the same job. But I'm at a stage in life where it's more important to me to finish a job and enjoy the rewards. If you have some of the power tools I mentioned, you can save a lot of time and effort on these type of jobs.

 

[gtaus]

It's not pretty, at it sure ain't perfect, but I built a bigger brooder for the chicks:
View attachment 3810889
The screws were a smidge too long, so I need to cut off the protruding sharp bits. Once that is done, I can finish setting it up and move the chickies in! They haven't outgrown the current brooder, exactly, but when they practice flying (which feel like constantly), it's a bit.... less than ideal for chicks in the LZ (which is most of the brooder).

I think that is the tallest chick brooder I have seen! How long do you keep your chicks in the brooder?

I have my chicks in the brooder for about 8 weeks and then I have to introduce them to the flock. It's those first days of integrating the young chicks with the older hens that I always worry about. They did OK with the integration two years ago when the chicks were 8 weeks old. Still, they look so much smaller than the adults to me.

FYI, I am picking up an order of 8 day-old chicks next Tuesday. So, I have been cleaning out my garage today getting it ready for the brooder and the chicks. Looking forward to getting the new chicks, but it will slow down any pallet work I might want to do in the garage.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Update on 2X4 Foot Pole Bean Raised Beds

A few days ago, I was considering my options for making raised beds along the chicken run fence to grow things like pole beans. I want to take advantage of the existing "trellis" in terms of that 6-foot-tall fencing around the chicken run.

I started out thinking of making the raised beds for the pole beans just 6 inches wide. That's plenty big for the beans to grow up on the fencing. But as I stated, it takes just about as long for me to build a 4 foot long X 6-inch wide raised bed as it would to build a standard 4X4 foot raised bed.

I went from thinking about a 6-inch wide bed, to a 1 foot wide bed, and ended up deciding on building more of my 2X4 foot (half-standard) sized beds. I will plant the pole beans and/or other climbing plants along the fence line, but that will still leave me lots of room for other plants. I'm thinking shade loving plants that need some protection from the sun. Maybe things like kale, lettuce, swiss chard, etc...

Here is a quick picture of my two 2X4 foot raised beds placed alongside the chicken run fence...

View attachment 3810148

That's on the backside fencing of my chicken run. I could put another 8 feet of raised beds along that back fence if I want. I would have to build more raised beds, but that is fine with me.

Imagine, if you will, having pole beans growing up that 6-foot-tall fencing and up and over on to the bird netting on top of the run. Then, lots of other plants to fill in the rest of the beds. That's my vision.

Tomorrow, I plan on filling the bottom half of these beds with hügelkultur logs and organics and getting everything ready for the final topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1 for the final 6-8 inches for growing the plants.

In a few weeks, I will be setting up my cement mixer compost sifter and start processing my topsoil and compost for my raised garden beds.

And I cannot leave without reminding people that I build these 2X4 foot pallet wood raised beds for less than $2.00 in new screws - the pallet wood being free. That's a much better deal, IMHO, than this raised bed I saw at Menards today...

View attachment 3810149

Well, that is probably the most expensive raised bed at Menards and there are other less expensive options. But none down to the price of my $2.00 per bed price. Since this is a pallet project thread, I guess I have to offer the benefits of making stuff with free pallet wood.

I really like that. Great looking planters and your beans and chickens will love it.