Gardening with Pallets

Gardening with Pallets

I have been using pallets and wood from pallets for gardening uses so I thought I would share some of the ways I use them and will update this post as I create more!

I had a large tree cut down by some men that did not complete the job and left this huge stump.  I decided to make it into a really high raised bed and it worked wonderfully!   I have been making things out of pallets for a while so I had some smaller pieces of wood that I had not used so I created this planter.  I nailed the strips all around the tree then filled with dirt and chicken/leaf compost.  I started planting in the spring with onions and sugar snap peas.  Later I planted a few cucumbers.  The cucumbers did very well.  A couple times a week I picked the amount of cucumbers in the picture below.

My grandson Isaac and I make BaIsaac pickles each summer which is a family favorite. He named be Ba when he was less than one year old.  Here is a link to the family recipe on our gurleyfamilycookbook.  

After the cucumbers finished producing I planted some collards thinking it may look like a chia pet.  They did very well too.  Before planting I topped the planter off with chicken/leaf compost.

When I find pallets that have the strips evenly distributed I turn them into raised beds for smaller crops like onions, garlic, scallions, and greens.  I add a strip or two of support wood from disassembled pallets to the bottom to give the bed 4-5 more inches of height.  

I also take the bottom bar of pallets to make a trellis for vine plants like the cucumber plants above.  I found that I sometimes need to put string between the slats for the tendrils to hold on to as they reach upward.  When I prepare for this upcoming season I will add some small strips between the slats.

Since I use leaves for bedding for my chickens i have constructed four of these large bins.  The are not hard to make and hold lots of leaves that will be used in the summertime,  I also use one to hold the leaves and poop I remove from the chicken coop.  By the time it gets there there is a perfect blend for compost.  It is filled sometime in the fall and I let it decompose for use in the spring.  Below is the first shovel full that I used this year.  Notice it is an excellent breeding ground for earthworms.

I get most of my pallets from a heating and air conditioning company that puts them on the road for folks like me to pick up.