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The Pallet Garden {re-mix 2012}

pallet garden

Last summer I painted a pallet as a privacy screen for my not-so-private deck. I filled some French garden buckets with some end-of-the-season annuals and hung the buckets on the pallet to create a small-space hanging garden. It was nice enough as a first attempt, but I had visions of adding MORE plants this year!

This weekend was a perfect time to get started, so I unplugged from the computer and freshened up my pallet garden!

I thought it would be cute to actually plant plants IN the pallet, but I wasn’t patient enough to line the whole pallet with landscape fabric and dirt and pack it all in and wait a couple weeks until the dirt settled in before I could put it upright. I kind of like instant gratification and easy peasy steps cause I’m a very lazy DIY’er.

So I tried to figure out a quick shortcut to get this done. I was originally thinking about using burlap to create little planting bags in the pallet, but I ended up using those coco liners like you would use for a hanging basket. I got mine at Lowe’s.

All I did was staple gun the little coco baskets to the inside and back of my pallet, and then filled them with dirt and plants. Done! They were easy to mold and squish into the pallet and they held the dirt in so I wasn’t losing dirt all over the place.

Remember, I do not have a green thumb. This is NOT a tried and true method that I’m aware of, as I am just making this up and experimenting myself! I have no idea if this will prove to be a great idea or a dumb idea, but it worked so far. We’ll see if my plants survive the summer.

While I was enjoying the long holiday weekend, I did a little more updating to my back porch, too! I had so much fun freshening things up. I’ll fill you in this week on the latest!

Have you started gardening yet?

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend remembering those who serve and have sacrificed for our country.

32 Comments

  1. kristin

    I must have missed this last year, it is gorgeous. Such a wonderful idea. thanks for sharing, have a great week :)
    XO
    Kristin

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Thanks, you too :-)

      Reply
  2. Diane

    Love it! Great idea to use the cocoa liners. {The only issue is that in such a small space plants may dry out quickly when the temps are high and or it’s breezy and warm…does that even happen in the NW?!} I too am big on easy and instant gratification. And you came up with a wonderfully creative solution! :D

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Yes, they probably will dry out fairly quickly. But I suppose that would be the case in any small space. I’ll just keep on watering! We actually don’t really get a lot of heat in the NW, generally it is pretty mild and rainy! I’m hoping for plenty of sunshine though! :-)

      Reply
  3. Jojo

    That pallet planter is fantastic!

    Reply
  4. jaime

    I happened upon your blog via google (I searched for cottage bathroom pictures) and I just wanted to tell you how much I love it. I just subscribed! :)

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Yay! Welcome! :-)

      Reply
  5. Guerrina

    I love the planter! When I have a deck I may have to make one! Yes, a full weekend of gardening and yard work…planting watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, strawberry plants & 2 blueberry bushes plus plants I’d been given; planting the seeds for annuals (morning glory, moonflower, nasturtium) THEN I mowed the lawn & installed an American flag on my house and removed the vinyl shutters to paint….I’m tired, but fulfilled! In this case, I think having my hours reduced from 40 to 24 is in my favor as I can relax tomorrow! lol Always a silver lining!

    Reply
  6. Tammy Skipper

    love this! great idea for renters like us too…but you said you are not a big DIY’er…I disagree ;)

    Reply
  7. Carol

    I love the color of yellow you used for your pallet – it is beautiful.

    Reply
  8. Lorrie

    I love this. And I’m like you – instant effect is what I want!

    Reply
  9. kelly at Talk of the House

    How very smart – especially for a non-DIY (but you are fooling yourself if you think that! ha ha) I love your choice of plants…geraniums are among my favorites! Hope to get out and work on my herb garden by the end of the week. We have rain all week from the tropical storm that came on shore this weekend.

    Reply
  10. Carolyn

    Love your pallet garden, Melissa! I haven’t done any planting yet, and now that it’s 98 degrees every day, I think I’ve missed my window of opportunity :) Guess I’ll have to plant around 5am before it gets too hot. Don’t know why I’ve been such a slacker this year. Guess I’m a lazy DIYer too :)

    Reply
  11. Laura

    We have one pallet left from the 8 that were delivered with decking materials. This one is mine, Baby! I am inspired now!

    Reply
  12. Sandy B

    It’s adorable. What a great idea.

    Reply
  13. Tanya Phillips

    I love this idea, way cute!

    Reply
  14. Jeanette

    I love this idea! So cute! It looks so full and flowery. There are so many pallet projects I’ve seen that I would love to try, but I have no idea where to find a pallet. Oh well… perhaps one day, one will come my way.

    We started our garden a few weeks ago, and our lettuce is already ready for a first harvest, I think. We don’t have a lot in the way of flowers though. Must remedy that!

    Reply
  15. Sarah

    Just a tip on Lowe’s. I LOVE to garden and I love to spend less!! ;-) Every Lowe’s has a clearance plant section. These are the ones that either they had to many of or they are dying off. My whole garden is filled with Lowe’s .50 to 5.00 flowers and plants and it looks better then some others in my neighborhood that spent a small fortune on plants. I also buy extra and bring them back to life and put them in cute little pots and give them to people as gifts. They think I spent a lot and all these flowers need is a little love, sunshine and water and they come right back to life. Hope that helps someone!!

    Reply
  16. Nicole

    I love the way this looks!! I hope it holds up because I think it’s a fabulous idea. I just recently found your website and am enjoying all your posts. I bought some plants this year, but have not put them in the ground yet. The past couple of days have been so hot.

    Reply
  17. RubySongbird

    Beautiful! I haven’t started gardening yet… This year I’m not sure I will because I tend to get busy and not spend enough time out there, then I feel guilty because I’m not gardening as much as I should. Perhaps I’ll stick to buying fresh foods from farmer’s markets this year and try the veggies again next year.

    Reply
  18. Linda Stoll

    Geraniums are planted in the old zinc wash tub … and hanging on the porch … with fuschia and a wonderful Boston fern … the asparagus ferns are soaking up the sun …

    And now to plant a herb garden!

    Thanks for the motivation!

    Reply
  19. Amber

    Coco liners! Brilliant! I have a pallet set up where I want it (covering my A/C unit), I was just stumped on how to put the plants in there. Thank you!!! And I am a big fan of fast and easy :)

    Reply
  20. Lea Fry

    I love both the 5min container and the pallet garden ideas. I never seem to have time to get outside and plant anything. I’m always too busy working on the inside. But SOMEDAY I’m a gonna do it! Both of these ideas were very inspirational to me and I think I could find the time to do them – at least the 5min one :)
    Thanks for the great ideas!

    Reply
  21. Tammy

    I love your pallet garden….I just picked up a pallet this past week and had the same thing in mind only I am going to use it for my herbs. I can’t wait to get it done now….and I love the idea of the pots being incorporated! thanks for sharing:) As to answer some of the questions on the watering of them, we did a vertical garden if you go to my blog to the vertical garden there is a link to how this can be done using pvc pipe. My husband did a little different and we are working a tutorial for that way (same but a litte different.)

    Reply
  22. Cathy

    Hi,
    Saw you over at Centsational Girl! I tried to sign up via email but for some reason it won’t work but I intend to keep trying!
    Love the pallet idea! I’m with you I don’t want to wait and during the waiting the pallet and the rest take up too much room – in my case, my balcony. How are you finding when you water does the overflow leak onto the plants below. I’ve been trying to get a good look at the pallet. Did you do anything to it construction-wise? Like move/remove some slats?
    The way it looks in the picture is seems to be staggered. Am I imagining things (quite possible!) or is it the way the pallet is sitting?
    I really like your choice of flowers – love the pure white daisies. Always look great in a garden. Another plant you might want to try are zinnias. They make great cut flowers and come in great colours.
    I can’t to start getting your postings.
    All the best,
    Cathy

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Hi Cathy, hopefully you got signed up ok for the emails! My blog was being moved to a different server so perhaps that was why you had some troubles.

      There is nothing different about the pallet and I didn’t change any of the construction. The water does kind of flow down to the other plants but not so much that it causes any issues!

      Thanks, and I’m glad you are here!

      Melissa

      Reply
  23. Debbie

    What a great idea Melissa! We’ve recently moved again but now to a very small condo. I have a small patio out back and this would be perfect for flowers and plants. Thanks for sharing this idea. I think I’m heading out to Lowe’s. :)

    Blessings and love,
    Debbie

    Reply
  24. Nicole

    A great idea, you could arrange this on a patio to screen a grill or meters or simply to segment the party area. Awesome idea!

    Reply
  25. Mo

    Melissa…this is a great idea, ty. Working on a’ no budget’, budget so I was wondering what you thought of using coffee filters instead of coco. I have tons of them and thought if I tripled them it might work. Also, I have a really unsightly propane section that I would like to block from view. Wondering if the gas would have unfavorable effect i.e. safe food etc. Your thoughts?

    Thanks again…Mo

    Reply
  26. Gloria Moore

    I’ve been trying to figure out a better way than the landscape cloth also. In Texas it just doesn’t hold the water long enough. Just curious where you are located.

    Reply
  27. Rose Clapper

    Love your ideas

    Reply
    • Bree Dickhart

      This is the most positive comment feed I’ve seen in years! ?????

      Reply

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