My New Pallet Garden

After reading about Life On The Balcony's pallet garden-- a garden that is built in the cracks of a discarded wooden warehouse pallet-- I decided I absolutely had to make my own. Finding containers to plant in has been one of the challenges of city gardening in a concrete backyard, so I was excited to see what kind of things I could grow in this unconventional and space-saving "planter".

First, I had to find a pallet.

And, as it always is with my toughest problems, this was where Mommy Fugazzotto came in! I tend to be uncomfortable about breaking the rules (I definitely get that from my Dad), but my Mom doesn't give a crap and she will steal pallets from every warehouse on the East Coast if it means cool gardening projects. She managed to get 2 pallets in great condition, packed them into her car, and drove from Boston to Brooklyn to deliver them to me. Now THAT'S a Mom.

Once we had the pallets, we decided to make some adjustments to LOTB's technique. The instructions there said to cover the entire back of the pallet with landscaping fabric to turn the pallet into one giant sack, and then fill the space inside the pallet with soil. My mom and I decided that this would (a) be very heavy and therefore have more of a chance of falling or breaking, and (b) be a waste of soil in areas that didn't need it. Instead, we made little planter sacks out of the landscaping fabric and hung each sack inside the pallet, securing it with a heavy-duty staple gun. It sort of works like window boxes made out of landscaping fabric.

And what is "landscaping fabric" you ask? It is a fabric made to last outdoors that won't disintegrate or rot. Air will flow through it but nothing else, and it's pretty strong. It's usually used to cover areas of ground where you want to kill off weeds or stop airborn seeds from getting into the soil.

Before adding soil, I propped up the pallet against my fence and secured it using 2 dog leashes. Yes, dog leashes-- I had them leftover as product samples from a marketing project I did last summer and they were the perfect size, with convenient hooks and clasps to make a secure hold.

Then I filled the sacks with soil and added plants, angling them a bit so they'd grow out and up instead of getting stuck inside the pallet.

And here's how it looks in my sweet rag-tag of a garden (which is slowly coming together for the season):

The plants will fill out in the next few months, and hopefully the Petunias will get in on some hanging action. I'm thinking of the top sack as a more traditional planter space since plants can spread up and out more, so that's where I put my perennials. Inside is mostly annuals, partly in case this pallet garden doesn't quite work, the plants will be gone in a few months anyway so I won't have to worry about damaging a plant that could last.

It certainly does save space! But don't forget, it's not a good idea to plant any edibles in a pallet garden. The wood for these pallets is often chemically treated to make it last longer in a warehouse situation and you don't want that riffraff seeping into your food.

So what do you think?

Comments

[puzzlepiece]

this is so awesome

[Sarah Kiernan]

this is amazing!! so cool! I want to do it too!!! Sidenote: your mom is the best.

[Jo Ann Fugazzotto]

If you look under FREE items on Craigslist you will find many places are looking to get rid of them. I found the pallets that Martina used at a small business in Boston, and was able to pick them up on the way home from work. I just emailed them for the address, or often the address will be posted in the ad. BTW: What are MOM's for?????

[Sarah]

@Jo Ann Fugazzotto (so glad I only had to learn how to spell 'Short' in kindergarten, that's a lot of last name y'all have!) Per your tip, I searched my local Craigslist for free pallets and several turned up, YAY! Just wanted to say thank you!!

[Jessi]

I love this and want to do it. Could you put berries in this? would they grow upwards on it, like a bush? Let me know if you have any insights!

[Martina Fugazzotto]

Hi Jessi, I wouldn't try berries in this for two reasons: First, pallet wood tends to be chemically treated so I would only plant non-edibles in a pallet planter just to be safe.

But second, there's not much space for a root system here, especially a perennial one like a blueberry bush that would outgrow a small space in one season. (Strawberries would probably work, but then we're back to the chemical wood issue.)

BUT! I'm growing blueberry bushes in buckets I found on the side of the road. I simply drilled holes for drainage and they're growing great. Do you have space for buckets?

[GGardening]

Pallets get thrown away by factories to rot somewhere in a field. Using them in this way to plant beautiful plants is a great way to recycle them and at the same time save money on pots.

[Mona Lenz]

I totally love this project. Where I work is a warehouse and we have sooooo many pallets, for me it was only difficult to choose.I'll make my vertical "garden" this weekend. Thank you for sharing your idea.