I’m always amazed by how you can build a garden with very little money. I am going to show you my recipe for building and filling an organic garden with repurposing wooden pallets. You may have all the materials you need in your yard or may have to go on a scavenger hunt to find the right materials. If a pallet is not available upcycling anything with 4 walls will work. Be creative and have fun!!
Finding wooden pallets for your garden
Finding pallets should be an easy task. You should keep a couple of things in mind before picking up the first pallet you see.
- Pallets painted usually blue or red mean they have been used in a packing plant and are very dirty. Who knows what’s on them….. I do not recommend the painted pallets.
- Look to see if its heat treated. This pallet will have an HT stamped on it. This means the pallet has chemicals to keep the bugs off so the pallet can be shipped overseas. Not recommended for gardening.
- A pallet comes in many different sizes. Some come as a box all ready to go with minor modifications. Keep in mind what is available to you because that will determine your garden design. When I am making a box out of the traditional style pallets I make sure they’re all the same size. I cut them in half and now I have 4 walls to make a box 🙂
- The wood of the pallet is solid real wood and you have a choice of pine or oak. Oak is very heavy and pine is light in comparison.
Happy pallet hunting and remember to stay away from HT (heat treated) and painted pallets.
You got pallets!!
Now get your reciprocating saw out and let’s start making your raised garden. I use a reciprocating saw and the blade I like is the one that cuts through metal. The reason is I can cut through the nails. I will give you a list of what I typically use to get an idea of what you can use to build your garden box. Of course, your design can go however you want but you do not need a bottom and no weed cloth. You’re going to need access to the ground.
- A handsaw, reciprocating saw, or circular saw. Use what you feel safe using is best. Follow your safety protocol and wear protective eye gear.
- Screws. The size of the screw will vary depending on your design. I like using screws but you can use nails. I like screws so I can unscrew and dismantle the garden in case I need to move it or expand the garden to make it bigger.
- Galvanized steel L brackets 2 on each corner top and bottom is the way I like to assemble a box-style raised garden. You are the designer so if you have a different way to do this go for it.
I have had so much fun working with pallets and building gardens of all shapes and sizes. Wall gardens to the raised garden box. Be creative and have fun.
Time to gather up your materials
We are talking about gardening on the cheap but what you will get is the best soil in the world after I give you the recipe to fill your garden. Warning this might feel mind-bending but I assure you that you will never go back once you see the miracle of nature at work. You will be filling the garden with yard waste, fruit scraps, veggie scraps, etc. You are in good shape if you have a full composter and if not you might want to start composting. We will use a layering technique some people call it lasagna gardening and others call it sheet composting. You are building a composting garden and in composting, you need wet green material (nitrogen) and dried brown material (carbon) and we are alternating the green and brown layers. This style of gardening requires planning to collect materials for layering your garden. I will give you a list of materials you can layer in your garden:
- Cardboard or newspaper (bottom layer)
- Raw fruit and veggie scraps (on top of the paper layer)
- Wood scraps, branches, and small logs (along with the fruits and veggie scraps layer)
- Green fresh-cut grass (along with the fruits and veggie scraps layer or after a brown layer)
- Yard trimmings
- Cotton and wool clothing (not socks due to the elastic string)
- Dried leaves and dried grass (put on top of the green layers)
- Seaweed and kelp (not green seagrass)
- Compost or garden hummus
- Worm castings
- Chicken poop
- Bunny poop
- Cow poop
- Bat poop
- Peat moss
- Coco core
You do not have to have all the materials on this list but the dried leaves or grass is an important layer. You need the carbon to balance the nitrogen layers. Nitrogen layers are green, wet, raw, and manure (poop).
Ready to layer your garden
The day before you assemble your garden layers you need to water the ground and soak it. This is necessary so don’t skip this step. The next day, soak the cardboard and/or newspaper and not one sheet of newspaper use 6 or so sheets at a time to cover the entire area, and overlap the sheets of paper.
Layer 1 Soaked newspaper and/or cardboard
Layer 2 the raw green layer with your fruit and veggie scraps, wood scraps, clothing, and any material that needs to compost goes in the bottom layer.
Layer 4Â A thick brown layer with dried leaves and grass.
Layer 5 can be compost, garden hummus, worm casting, chicken poop, and bunny poop.
Layer 6Â A thick brown layer with dried leaves and grass.
Layer 7 can be compost, garden hummus, worm casting, chicken poop, and bunny poop.
Layer 8Â A thick brown layer with dried leaves and grass
Layer 9 top it off with a thick layer of peat moss, coco core, or garden soil. I like using peat moss because it retains moisture and nutrients. You can also add peat in replace of the dried leaves and grass layer.
Water every layer. Water is important to keep your layers composting. The paper layer and the watering you did the day before is how you invite the earthworm to come up and eat, poop, and make babies. It’s dinner time!!… You blocked out the light and added water so now the earthworm will come up to the surface and start digesting the layers and in 2 months you will have amazing organic living garden soil. The living soil will provide a healthy balanced ecosystem providing your plants the foundation to thrive organically.
Finishing touches
Once you are finished layering you can plant your seeds and starter plants that day. You can plant closer together due to the nutrient density. You should consider animal-proofing to protect your plants. If you have goofers use 3/4″ inch hardware cloth (goofer wire) under the cardboard layer. The bug-proofing is in the ecosystem you just built. A balanced ecosystem will keep the bugs in check. Worm castings are a good layer to put on top to help the balance and you can make a worm tea to spray on your plants.
Do you see how you can build a garden for very little money? not only saving you money but you get paid back in food and living organic garden soil you can use over and over again. You can repeat this and just keep building soil and gardens. Now that you know what you can do with all the materials on your property composting will be a great benefit to you.