How to build a garden planter from wood pallets.

Okay, so I had some time this week so I decided to tear apart a couple of broken up wood pallets and build myself a garden planter box.  This is how I did it.

Things you need:

• Wood pallet(s) – depending on shape of the pallets will determine how many you need.  As you see in the picture, my pallets were pretty broken up so I need to use 2 of them.  I chose one that had 3-4 inch boards and one that had 6 inch boards so I could alternate the different widths on the planter. 
• 1 ¾ inch deck/wood screws or nails – that all depends on you.  I prefer to use the deck screws mainly because it is faster.
• Cordless power screw driver and a wall charged battery or hammer if you decide to use nails instead of screws.
• Pry bar to dismantle wood pallet(s)
• Electric or manual sander
• Sand paper – I used 60 grit, but any will do as you will only be lightly sanding.
• Hammer
• Landscape paper
• Staple gun and staples
• Miter saw

Steps:

• Using your pry bar and hammer, dismantle the wood pallet(s), separate usable boards and non-usable boards.  Then separate support boards (usually 2 x 4’s) from planks (usually 1x3, 1x4, or 1x6).
• The 1 x 3 and 1 x 6 boards I used were in lengths of 36”, I kept 4- 1x3” and 2- 1x6” in that length for the sides.  I cut, using a miter saw, 4-1x3” and 2-1x6” into 20” lengths for the sides. 
• For the corner supports, I used some 2x2 strips that I had in my scrap pile but you can use the support boards (usually 2x4) from the wood pallet.  I had laid out 2 – of the 1x3 or4” and 1 of the 1x6 out next together and measured to obtain the height of the box and then measured and cut 4 corner supports to that length.
• I then used an electric sander and 60 grit sandpaper to lightly sand all pieces, just to make sure there wasn’t any rugged spots on it.  If you sand too much, you sand off some of the natural wear of the boards off and I wanted to keep that rugged worn look. 
•  I started with the sides, I took 2 of the corner supports, laid them out, then 2 – 1x3” and 1 – 1x6” all 36” in length, alternating them….thin, thick, thin. Laid them on the corner supports making sure ends of the boards were flush with corner support.  Then I screwed them to the corner supports. Do this one more time for the other side.
• Then I took the 20” length boards and attached (using screws) them to the corner supports that are attached to sides in the same matter as the sides…thin, thick, thin.  Do that for both ends.  When you are done with that it should look like a box without a bottom.
• This is where I used landscaping paper, cut out enough to cover bottom with about a half inch extra all the way around. 
• Fold the paper a half inch and staple to the box.  The paper will keep weeds out and allow for moisture to drain out. 

This picture shows the final product.  In this picture I haven’t filled it with any goodies yet but I used plastic pop bottles on bottom layer for drainage.  Then mixed regular soil from the ground with compost with manure, then filled the rest leaving about a third of the box not filled.  I chose to plant onions in there but you can plant whatever you want to.  If you are planting flowers I would use potting soil as it is less dense and will have better draining.