Not that long ago I was searching the internet for the perfect vertical garden to build and display at the QLD Garden Expo. There were so many different ideas out there that I decided to mash a few together and came up with an easy to build vertical garden made out of pallets.
This vertical garden is a great way to make use of any pallets you have lying around.
Materials
- Kiln-dried pallet in good shape
- 2 pieces of scrap 2—4 wood
- Nails
- 4 x 75mm baton screws
- Staples/Staple gun or Shade Cloth Clips
- Fabric/bio-degradable plastic weed matting
- Katek Potting Mix & Katek Super Growth
- Herbs/Vegetables/Flowers
This is how we made it
- We chose a kiln-dried pallet in good shape, marked with (heat-treated and less likely chemically treated) and gave it a good scrubbing.
- Our pallet has large spacing between the boards, but you can always remove every second board with a pry bar to create space for taller plants. We sanded down the splinters, rough edges and hammered down all of the nails.
- We cut two pieces of 2 x 4 scrap wood on an angle for the feet and attached them using 75mm baton screws.
- This next step we didn’t do for our pallet, but can be easily done to change to the look of your pallet. You can stain the pallet with a wood stain and then apply a protective clear coat or alternatively you can paint the pallet using a suitable outdoor paint in any colour.
- We measured the sections of the pallet where the weed matting pockets need to fit. We then cut the weed matting to size. Our pieces were cut into a 150mm x 560 mm rectangle that then formed a pocket. We stapled the weed matting to the insides of the pallet boards using shade cloth clips, but you could also use a staple gun. Our pallet has six planting pockets. This is where things may get tricky as it can be hard to hit the staples in or get a staple gun in the space. Where it was hard to maneuver a hammer, we used multi-grips to push the shade cloth clips into the timber.
- We then filled the pockets with Katek Premium Potting Mix and planted it out with a range of herbs, vegetables and flowers. A handful of slow-release Katek Super Growth fertilizer was sprinkled in to each pocket to give the plants a boost.
