Pallet to Planter

The company I work for receives product on pallets continually. These pallets get stacked up in the back forty until the pile is too much and it needs to go. We usually end up taking the pallets to the local paper company for recycling. Most of the time there is nothing wrong with the wood so it seems kind of a waste.

For a couple of years Kathi has wanted me to build her some raised garden beds in the backyard. After pricing the wood we decided that it could wait. This past week at the outdoor market in our town on Tuesday nights I saw a guy who had a booth of garden beds. His beds were made of less expensive wood coated with a protective varnish or they could be purchased bare. This sparked the idea to use the pallets to make garden beds.

The pallets are cheap wood that gets tossed anyway. Why not give the wood a second life as a place to grow life. So this week I rounded up a number of pallets and brought them home. Today I made my first raised garden bed from a used pallet. It took about 10 minutes to put this together. The space between the slats will allow for water drainage. This bed is about 24" square and 6" deep.


The blue is not mine. The guys in the shop sometimes use the pallets to hold parts for painting. I am not going to paint, sand, or stain any of these. My plan is to make them and leave the wood as it was.