My DIY No Cost Rustic Pallet Planter

I wanted some larger planters for my garden and I decided to DIY something.

I was working on figuring out a lumber list when I remembered that we had
some old pallets.
So I decided to see what I could come up with using them.






I have to admit taking apart pallets is not found anywhere on my favorite
things to do list.. not even close.

In fact after making one planter I was really uninterested
in taking anymore pallets apart anytime soon. Lol.

My husband offered to take some apart for me when he got home from
work 💕so the second planter was back towards the top of my to do list.

I got a second planter made fairly quickly and now I have a matching pair
of larger planters that basically cost nothing except some elbow grease and
a little time.

I really didn't have any kind of blueprint or actual plan when I started this project.

I just had an idea of what I ultimately wanted it to look like when
I was done, and went with it.

After having my pile of pallet boards I just placed some boards on the ground
and then came up with the size and design basically by eyeballing it.

I made 2 end panels to start with and here is what I came up with.



I cut the end boards (legs) at 22" and the interior boards at 19", then I simply cut
a board to go across the top and bottom portion to screw them to.

After getting the two end panels done, I simply attached them together with 2 more side boards.
Then I just filled them in from the inside with the same sized cut boards.
(22" leg boards/19" center boards)


This planter was obviously meant to be a quick project and a simple rustic piece..
I wasn't going for perfection here and that is just how it turned out.

Imperfectly charming in my opinion.😉






I could've certainly taken more time to make everything exact and do mitered corners,
sand it down etc,  but this was meant to be rustic,  quick, and a simple to do project
and honestly I couldn't be more happy with how they turned out.. especially since these
were basically free to make as I had everything on hand that I used to make them.
(excluding the potting soil/plants)




After I had the basic overall shape done I decided to add a top.
To do this I just placed boards on top, marked where I needed to cut them, used my skilsaw,
and then screwed the top into place.




Nothing fancy.. but I think it gives it a more finished look.

I also added in some scrap bracing pieces under each corner of the top
to give the top more stability.
 (attached scrap pieces with screws then used my saw to simply cut off the excess: photo below)

I had also added some scrap pieces of wood as cleats to the interior near the bottom
so that I could add a "floor" to hold the soil in place.




I really like the raw rustic finish, but ultimately for this project I did choose to go
ahead and paint them white.
(I included a photo of them side by side below so you can 
see the raw finish vs. painted)

I also added a coat of poly to the interior of each planter as well to help prolong
the life of the wood a little further.





After the planters were completely dry I put them where I wanted them to go in the yard,
and then I lined the interior of each planter with heavy duty landscape fabric.
It will hold the soil in place and allow water drainage as well.




I cut 2 pieces of the landscape fabric that were long enough to go down one side 
of the interior of the planter, across the bottom portion, and up the opposite side.

So basically I used one piece to cover one section, (north/south section) and then used the 2nd piece to cover the the other section (east/west section) overlapping on the bottom part of the planter.  
(hopefully that makes sense)

I just put them in place and used a couple of
staples near the top of each side using my staple gun just to hold it in place so I 
could fill them with potting mix.



I added my potting mix as well as some starter fertilizer and
slow release plant foodthen I mixed those into the top of the soil
and it was finally time to add the plants that I chose.



I chose to use a purple fountain grass as my centerpiece or the thriller,
petunia's to add some bright color (filler),  and a sweet potato vine as my spiller plant.

I think it is going to be gorgeous!



I placed them on the patio that is near my vegetable garden so I think painting them white
was the perfect choice for them since they match my garden fencing.
I am really loving how they look and I think they fit this space perfectly.

I can just picture how beautiful they are going to look when the plants fill in and if you
know purple fountain grass, it gets huge and I think they are going to put on quite a show.

Since the planters were a whopping $0.00 that makes these even better. 💚




As a quick recap..
I used a total of 4 pallets for this project.
It took the boards from 2 pallets to make each one of my planters.

(Of course pallets do vary greatly, but I thought it may be helpful to make a note
of how many that I personally used for my project)





I do have another project in mind that I will be
leaving in the raw rustic wood finish and hopefully I can get to that one soon!
Excited to get to work on it. 


Here is an update on how my planter is doing, photo taken on July 10th!
(not quite 2 mos)




*If you'd like to see a little more of the process on how I made these,  I did make a short
video/vlog to go along with this post.

The Corresponding YouTube Video can be seen here





Blessings!
-Tina

_ _ _

similar blog post: My Rustic Pallet Wood Coffee Table


Item details:

Favorite Garden Gloves: Found Here
Ryobi Tools Kit I own (I use this all the time): Found Here
Organic Starter Fertilizer I use: Found Here
Slow Release Plant Food I use: Found Here
Water Soluble Plant Food: Found Here
Purple Fountain Grass
Petunia's
Sweet Potato Vine


_ _ _ 


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