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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

  1. We chose a kiln-dried pallet in good shape, marked with (heat-treated and less likely chemically treated) and gave it a good scrubbing.
  2. 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.
  3. We cut two pieces of 2 x 4 scrap wood on an angle for the feet and attached them using 75mm baton screws.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.