Monday, May 2, 2011

Project:: Pallet Garden


As promised, above is our new Pallet Garden, the creative inspiration of my now inspired diy Hubby. We recently built a bed - yes, a full kind-size bed - from scratch together (post and instructions to come soon!) and he seems to be as completely hooked on the resourceful, money-saving, creative outlet of the diy trend as I am. And I LOVE it! He even went to the hardware store and bought all of the flowers himself. What a lucky girl I am, huh?
His inspiration for this project came from a lovely container gardening blog, Life on the Balcony.
Here are the steps to create your own Pallet Garden:
1. First, he prepped the pallet by removing any rotted boards. Then he applied a piece of 1/4 inch thick plywood to the back bottom third portion to support the weight of the dirt that would be added. 

2. He attached garden fabric to the entire back as well as whatever edge will be the “bottom” using a staple gun. The Pallet Garden is intended to be leaned against a wall when finished.
3. Fill the pallet with garden soil suitable for the flowers or herbs you intend to plant. He chose an assortment of Trailing Ice Plants in beautiful pinks, reds, and whites, a flowering cactus variety, and purple petunias (not shown as these will be planted in the “top” row of the pallet once we stand it up.
4. Place each plant as close to the “top” side of each opening in the slats, as the dirt will settle once you stand it up. Space the plants based on the recommended planting instructions. Don’t overcrowd but plant as close as the plants will allow so the roots will grow together and help hold them in place in the pallet. Water the plants. 
5. Wait one-two weeks for the dirt to settle before standing against a wall. Once you stand the pallet up, fill the top with more soil and plant more plants in the top opening if you’d like. This is where we will plant our purple petunias. Water your plants as recommended for the varieties. Ours recommend once or twice a week.
We’ll have more photos to come soon once our Pallet Garden is in place and the petunias are planted! This will be a lovely addition right near our sitting area on our patio and a warm, colorful display to lighten our morning coffee hour each day. 

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