Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[fuzzi]

More Gardening Challenges - Pallet Wood Covers

It's really been a frustrating experience trying to grow some food out in my pallet wood raised beds. Something has been eating almost all my pepper, lettuce and Swiss chard plants...

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All those plants were previously coming along just fine, and I was hoping to harvest some lettuce and Swiss chard this week. Now, I'm just hoping that the plants can be saved if protected.

I built a frame out of some scrap 2X2's...

Then I used some old 2-foot chicken wire to cover the frame. After that, I put it on top of my smaller 2X4 foot hügelkultur raised bed. I hope it will deter whatever animal is eating my plants, but I don't know. Here is a picture of the new pallet/salvaged wood protective cover in place...

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I built another cover for the raised bed right next to it, too. Again, using whatever wood and chicken wire I had laying around.

I don't know if it's too late to save these plants, but at least I will have some cover protection for next year. I think the lettuce will come back, but there was very little to the Swiss chard plants left, so I am less optimistic about them recovering.

Some of you may remember that these 2X4 foot raised beds were placed alongside my chicken run fence. The idea was to plant peas and beans so they would grow up the run fence as a trellis. I have to report that idea has not worked out for me. The chickens are eating all the peas plants as they grow, and what they cannot reach, something else is eating the plants from the other side of the fence.

I don't really know what is eating all my plants this year. I see squirrels running all over the yard and suspect them of digging in the raised garden beds. This is also a bumper year for rabbits, some that are so bold that they just sit in the shade only five or six feet away from me and don't bother to run away when I approach them. I have never seen them jump up into my 16 inch tall raised beds, but it sure looks like rabbits eating those lettuce, Swiss chard and pepper plants.

But I also have a new critter on my list this year which are chipmunks. They have shown up running around my yard, and worse yet, I found a number of chipmunk burrows in one of my raised beds. That was the raised bed where I put the first frame cover with chicken wire. Unfortunately, if it is chipmunks eating all those plants, the chicken wire will not stop them. I would have to redo the frames with 1/2-inch hardware cloth to keep them out.

I am currently in the process of making more pallet/salvaged wood frames for my 4X4 foot raised beds as well. It might be too late for this year, but I will be ready for next year's battle!

The real heartbreaker this year was that something dug up and ate all Dear Wife's (a Filipina) bitter melon plants when they were young. I started those plants inside the house at the start of April and was so hopeful of a good harvest this year. I restated some new seeds, but it's doubtful the plants will have enough time to grow and mature once transplanted. I'm already 3 months behind on those plants, so it's not looking good for any bitter melons this year. Of course, the heartbreak is that we cannot buy bitter melon locally at our stores.

Well, I will leave this post on a positive note. My elevated bean planters are really doing well, I have some zucchini plants that are looking real good, about 6 squash plants that are spreading out just fine, and my tomatoes are really taking off growing up the ropes on my pallet wood trellis frames I built. I planted 100 green onion bulbs and we have already enjoyed eating some of them. And, to my surprise, I planted 8 banana pepper plants in my lakeside hügelkultur raised bed as "extras" because I did not have room in my backyard main raised beds, and those extras are the only ones that were not eaten by the varmints!

Ref: Hügelkultur Raised Beds post #231 but was originally intended for this thread. Works good for the Hügelkultur thread as well, so I'll keep it there too.

Chard grows back.

 

[gtaus]

Chard grows back.

Yep, I see sprouts coming up. It's just too bad that I lost 4 weeks of growth.

 

[gtaus]

Dear Wife has asked me to make her another pallet wood planter. This time she wants one longer than the others. I will be making it about 48X16 inches and my standard 16 inches high. She liked the other pallet wood planters I built for her and have previously posted. I'll have to post some pictures of those planters now that she has her flowers growing in them.

I started building the new pallet wood planter this afternoon. It has been years since I have broken a drill bit, but I must have hit a screw, or something, and my bit snapped off in half. Well, shucks, I am not too upset about that because I use my cheap bits for pallet projects just in case, I hit a hidden nail or screw.

I got out a new drill bit and went back to work. Not even 5 minutes later, I dropped my drill and busted yet another drill bit! Bummer! Had to break out a new set of bits to finish that part of the project. I should have paid more attention to my drill when I set it down.

Point is, when I am working on my pallet projects, I often chose to use less expensive tools, blades, bits, etc... knowing that I might hit a hidden fastener that could cause some damage. Better to lose a cheap bit than an expensive bit.

In fact, I have a number of tools and accessories that I use only for my pallet wood projects. That is especially important when using pallet wood with nails, or partial nails, still in the boards. For some projects, I don't want to take the time and effort to remove all the nails. But you have to be prepared to sacrifice a broken bit, damaged saw blade, etc... if you don't take all those nails out of the wood.

I will post a picture of the new planter when finished. Should be soon. Hope I don't break any more stuff in finishing that project...

 

[gtaus]

Yet Another Pallet Wood Planter post...

I finished that bigger, longer, planter that Dear Wife requested me to build. Here is a picture of it in place in front of our front yard deck...

Her original idea was to planting climbing vines with flowers in the front. She planted a bunch of vines a few years ago, but I think she bought the wrong kind for our location - northern Minnesota - plus that location is mostly shade all day. Of all she planted that first year, half died right away. Then, last year, only one grew back. It sure liked nice, especially if the whole front would have been filled with those vines and flowers. But with only one vine growing, it look really thin. Then, this year, no vines at all grew. So, she has given up on that idea.

Zooming back, here is an expanded view...

I don't know what she is going to plant there, but anything would be an improvement. At least she is happy with the new planter.

For anyone interested in this planter build, it is 48 inches long by 16 inches wide by 16 inches tall. Unlike my pallet wood raised beds for my food gardens, the 2X4 framing for these smaller flower planters is on the inside. I am not so worried about these small planters suffering from sidewall blowouts or coming apart at the corners because there is not very much weight in these smaller planters. I also added some trim board on top of the planter for aesthetics, which I don't do for my food garden raised beds. And, of course, being 16 inches deep, I will use the hügelkultur method to fill the bottom half of the planter before I put in the topsoil/compost mix for the final 6-8 inches layer on top.

 

[gtaus]

Since I was outside taking pictures of that new pallet wood planter, I thought I would post a few pictures of some of the previous smaller pallet wood planters that I built now that they have flowers in them...

I built those planters to replace some half whiskey barrel planters that we had which were falling apart - after 25 years. I had about 6 of these half whiskey barrels. Last year, they were all falling apart, but I was able to rebuild 2 barrels from what good wood I could salvage from all 6 originals barrels...

I might get another year or two out of those rebuilt whiskey barrels, but at $65.00 each, we don't plan on buying any new barrels. I kept the metal rings from the old barrels, and one thing I might try to do is rebuilt the barrels using pallet wood and those metal rings. I'll have to look into that some more. I have never made a round planter.

Dear Wife is just happy to have my new pallet wood planters to replace the old half whiskey barrels. She is more interested in the flowers she plants, and less about the planter itself. That works to my advantage. Saves us lots of money, too. The pallet wood I used was free. I estimate I used less than $1.00 in new screws and nails for each pallet wood planter.

If anyone knows how to rebuild a round whiskey barrel planter using pallet and/or salvaged wood using those original metal straps, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[chickengr]

Yet Another Pallet Wood Planter post...

I finished that bigger, longer, planter that Dear Wife requested me to build. Here is a picture of it in place in front of our front yard deck...

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Her original idea was to planting climbing vines with flowers in the front. She planted a bunch of vines a few years ago, but I think she bought the wrong kind for our location - northern Minnesota - plus that location is mostly shade all day. Of all she planted that first year, half died right away. Then, last year, only one grew back. It sure liked nice, especially if the whole front would have been filled with those vines and flowers. But with only one vine growing, it look really thin. Then, this year, no vines at all grew. So, she has given up on that idea.

Zooming back, here is an expanded view...

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I don't know what she is going to plant there, but anything would be an improvement. At least she is happy with the new planter.

For anyone interested in this planter build, it is 48 inches long by 16 inches wide by 16 inches tall. Unlike my pallet wood raised beds for my food gardens, the 2X4 framing for these smaller flower planters is on the inside. I am not so worried about these small planters suffering from sidewall blowouts or coming apart at the corners because there is not very much weight in these smaller planters. I also added some trim board on top of the planter for aesthetics, which I don't do for my food garden raised beds. And, of course, being 16 inches deep, I will use the hügelkultur method to fill the bottom half of the planter before I put in the topsoil/compost mix for the final 6-8 inches layer on top.

you are lucky that your wife ask things that you like!

 

[Smokerbill]

One or two of my chickens have started eating eggs in the nest box so I put together a roll away nest box today. I used an old pallet for the base plus a lot of lumber I got for free, and a couple of cutoffs from lumber I bought. No plans, I just worked out the design as I built it.

I'll let the pictures tell the story. I left most of them as thumbnails to save space.

The new box got the birds' attention!

 

[gtaus]

One or two of my chickens have started eating eggs in the nest box so I put together a roll away nest box today.

Sorry to hear about the egg eaters. I hate it when that happens. I hope your roll away nest box works for you. Thanks for all the pictures.

I don't know what the best way is to stop an egg eater(s). Every once in a while, I have that same problem. What has worked for me in the past is to collect the eggs many times throughout the day so that no egg is left in a nest box for very long. That usually stops the egg eating problem for me.

Anyways, I hope you update the success, or not, of your roll away nest box and if it stopped the egg eaters. There might come a time when I will have to build my own. Thanks.

 

[Molpet]

I upped the protein and the egg eating stopped.... unless an egg gets broken. 20% all flock and oyster shells on the side.

 

[fuzzi]

One or two of my chickens have started eating eggs in the nest box so I put together a roll away nest box today. I used an old pallet for the base plus a lot of lumber I got for free, and a couple of cutoffs from lumber I bought. No plans, I just worked out the design as I built it.

I'll let the pictures tell the story. I left most of them as thumbnails to save space.

The new box got the birds' attention!

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I like. What type of mats/flooring did you use?

Your workbench looks a lot like the one I've used in the past...