How to Build a Patio Planter Box out of Pallets

I have always wanted a garden, but because I live in an apartment, it makes it very difficult to grow much of anything. I wanted a relatively large planter that I could make for close to nothing, and that's when I decided that pallets were the way to go. Make sure that you use pallets that are trash, but in good condition. All of the pieces do not necessarily turn out perfectly, but the box works perfectly for growing flowers and vegetables. I used two pallets to build this box, and it is about 32" wide by about 18" deep by 16" tall. I originally wanted two of these, but so far, it seems to be perfect for our needs, and does not take up too much space on the patio.

1. The Breakdown: This was by far the most time consuming process. I wanted to give up significantly more quickly than I would like to admit (by the first nail not coming out, I was done). However, I had several plants that needed the space, I had been talking about building this for weeks, and I had already found the pallets and gotten the tools out. Therefore, we were building the damned box. The best way that we found to tear down the pallet was by cutting as closely to the lower support beams on either side as possible, and then wriggling and prying to remove the board from the center support post. This was the hardest step for us, but once you finish the breakdown, the rest is a cake walk, I promise.
You will also need corner support beams, as well as base boards, to provide most of the structural integrity of the box, as there will be a great amount of weight added. For this, I used 6 of the support beams of the pallet. In order to prepare the support beams for the box, we used a crowbar to remove the small pieces of board that were remaining from the previous step, as well as any nails. We did pull a few of the nail heads off. If this happens, just hammer the nails in, or fold them over with your hammer. It does not matter whether they stay in or not, as long as there are no sharp edges.
For this box, I used 3 "layers", which I will describe in a minute, each consisting of two long pieces, and two short pieces. The actual lengths that you use will vary based on the amount of useable pallet boards that you will be able to extract. In my case, the long boards were 32" long, and the short boards were 18" short :), and you will be able to determine the actual exact-ish lengths once you have chopped up your pallets.
For this step, plan on 6 full length support beams, 6 long beams, 8 short beams, as well as beams for the base. I used scrap wood for this section, and I had to make individual adjustments to the assortment of remaining pieces in order to make the bottom fit, as the bottom was based around the way that all of the other pieces fit.

 2. Assembly:

• Layers - The first step to assembling the box is to create the "layers". Layers consist of two short (depth) pieces, and two long (length) pieces. I connected each piece by screwing through the long board into the short board with one screw (I would recommend predrilling your holes to save you some time and strength). Four screws later, your layer is done. I originally wanted four layers, but I decided that for my purposes, 16" tall was high enough. If you would like a taller, deeper box, just add more layers. Repeat the process to create two more layers. Keep an eye on your lengths of wood, to make sure that they are close to the same size.
• Support - Now to connect the layers, we will use the support beams. I cut each beam in half, to create a 16" post for each of the corners of the box. Screw through each layer in the corner to connect the post to the layer. I put a screw in each long board, as well as each short board, to give the box the most strength. Also, as one more strong point, I added the final 2 regular short boards to the sides of the box. I screwed through each of the long sides of the layers, 6 screws total. I added this section to hopefully avoid any bowing out of the center of the box.
• Bottom - In order to form the base, I screwed the two remaining boards into the 4 corner support posts with the longest screws that I had. After this, flip the box over. Although your support beams may vary a small amount, because we assembled everything upside down, the support beams will now be level (like magic!). Now for the base. This part will take some finagling , and as you can see, I had to cut out some of the edges in order to go around the support posts. Do your best, and remember that it does not have to be water tight. I screwed both sides of each base board in to hold it in place and maybe to add some strength to the boards, but I do not think that this was really necessary, as the boards will not fall out.

• Lining -  Line the box with plastic. This is important for a couple of reasons. First, we do not want water and dirt squirting around everywhere. Also, we don't want the box to rot due to being damp. The main reason that we are lining the box, however, is to prevent any of the chemicals or contaminants from the wood from getting to your plants. I have used several trash bags to line the bottom and sides of the box. Make sure to poke some holes in the plastic so that water does not get trapped in the bottom, and use an industrial staple gun to staple the plastic to the walls. This does not have to be perfect, and the weight of the dirt will do most of the work to position the plastic.

•  Fill - Finally, fill the box with dirt. Most people recommend layers to allow for adequet drainage, and had we thought about it, we would have done a couple of different layers of soil to make sure that our plants did not sit in water. In this photo however, I just have gardening soil.

   

All of your measurements will vary based on the useable portion of the pallet, but I have found that most pallets are around 36", so the useable portion will be up to 32" long. If you would like a larger box, there are larger pallets that we have seen while out and about, but this is the most standard size. You could always place two of them end to end to create a larger box. As our first major building project, I have learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do, and hopefully this post will save you some trouble in building a gardening box. I can tell you that it is so rewarding to build something for your family, and it was definitely worth all of the time and effort that we put into building it.