Turning a Pallet Into a Garden

I cannot claim credit for this one..click on the photo and it will take you to a blog called Life on the Balcony..a great garden resource for container gardening for apartment dwellers. 

As soon as all this snow has melted I am going to try this!  I want to start seeds directly in it instead of plants, just because I think it would be a neat experiment. 

I have been in a building mood.  I just need some space, our garage, aka: my building space is crammed full of stuff we had no where else to keep.  We are in the process of looking for a small piece of property (2 acres or so) to move to so we have a bit more room to spread out.  I will have a hard time giving up my little yellow house on the hill but what we are thinking of doing will be an adventure. 

Over the snowy weekend I worked on a small project.  I just have one piece left to add for it to be completed to my satisfaction but I will go ahead and share what I have completed.  Here is my humble salvage tool box planter…as you can see it still needs a handle but I was hoping to find an old pipe to use and I have yet to find one.


I started here…
I dragged some old lumber I had salvaged a few years back out of our basement. (pallet wood would work great for this). I love the old chippy aqua paint and authentic dirt smudged in it. 

I measured the entire length of the board, calculated the size to make the box to best utilize the one board and started cutting. I did use a different piece of scrap wood for the bottom since it would not be visible. 

You can’t get anymore rustic than this..

I am careful with sanding and working with old boards like this in case that paint is lead based. 

I was not precise in cutting since I am not worried about it being square or lining up perfectly, I just wanted it to be the right size to pop 4 inch garden center pots in.  I want to change out the flowers at will but I don’t want the plastic pots to be visible.   I used the side boards above to measure where to start the angle on the ends.  Used my triangle to mark the cut and took it to my compound miter saw.  I goofed one up and had to redo it, that happens to me a lot.  Especially when it is so cold out my fingers feel like they are going to fall off.
I did a dry run of setting it up to see how the bottom would fit.  It is a teeny tiny bit wider than the ends but not enough to matter, like I said this is a rustic planter so it being un-square is desirable. 

I took all the pieces to my studio, at least it is warm in there.  I did a dry run of setting up the box but it needed something.

I picked out a stencil and painted FLOWERS on the side boards, I wanted something light and faded.  It needed a little something more so I shadowed the lettering.   The other side I used an antique white and have yet to decide if I want to shadow the lettering.  (The first photo shows the side with the white lettering)
I did not worry about centering the lettering.  Remember rustic. 

I drew a line using the bottom as my guide to make sure I pre-drilled my nail holes in the correct place.

I will pre-drill within the lines as the nails are square and the wood is old and dry, it would split if I just nailed it.  Normally, to make it easier on myself I would tack it in place with my nail gun but it was just too cold in the garage to work in there any longer and I can do fine with a hammer. 

I used these square nails, they look more old fashioned.  I think they are some kind of concrete nail.  You can see the pre-drilled holes here. 

I run a bead of wood glue (exterior) along the nail line, line up the sides and nail them in place.  How rustic is that!

As I said before, I think an old metal pipe would look great as the handle, now to hunt one down or I may have to make do with a wooden dowel cut to size, I am not in a hurry so I am sure I can find an old pipe somewhere. 

The four inch pots fit inside perfectly. 

And there you have my rustic tool box planter…this was a fun and fast project.  I will make plenty more as soon as it is warm enough to work outside in comfort. 

I also worked on a sign but I am stuck…I will sand it down, age it with glaze and all that but I am wondering, does it need a few flowers along with the vines or maybe a few vines added to the lettering??  Leave it as is but just distress it?


I am off to get to work around here, paperwork to do and some house cleaning. 

Glad you could stop in for a visit!
 


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