20 Creative Ways to Upcycle Pallets in your Garden

Sounds like great repurposing Nikki! Enjoy your project.

Hi Mark
I suggest you start with the information in this post and watch all the video tutorials. They are quite detailed and show you step by step what materials you need, how to line the pallets, fill with soil (I’d strongly recommend using my potting mix recipe for this project) and plant them out. I would suggest you pre-paint your pallet in rainbow colours first (with non-toxic paint – there are many external low or no-VOC paints on the market). It would be too difficult to paint after planting. I would also suggest you consider adding an irrigation system if the children would find it too challenging to water the pallet planter. Another suggestion is to cut a pallet in half horizontally and put the two halves side by side so they are shorter and easily accessed by the children – then they could sit and smell for longer periods. Or even use 2 pallets and make a square by cutting them both in half, staking them in the corners for support.
With plant selection, perhaps choose lots of colourful, fragrant flowers and edibles like marigolds, petunias, red/green/purple lettuces, lemon balm, chocolate mint, peppermint, geraniums etc. See my post on ideas for sensory gardens.
You may also find some inspiration for other easy DIY projects on my Pinterest board – Gardening with Kids. You could use the pallet for other projects too. I particularly like:
Funky Fence – colourful and bright.
Pencil Gate – you could saw the pallet timbers off to make points and use them to make a gate or fence.
A Rainbow Raised Garden Bed – this could be an easy fun project to try with plants I’ve mentioned above.
Hope this gives you some inspiration and ideas.
Kind regards, Anne 🙂

Hi Sanet
Thanks for your lovely feedback! Quite coincidentally I’ve just written a story about “Kathy: A Reclaimed Sustainable Garden“. She’s a local Brisbane lady, who’s been creating a suburban garden (including a chicken coop) almost totally out of reclaimed materials. I think you would really benefit from reading it and getting some inspiring ideas. It also links to pics and more info on their chicken coop which was architect designed by her son Kyle, who has worked extensively making sustainable buildings with reclaimed tyres. I am not a fan of using tyres in an organic vegetable garden to grow food due to the toxic chemicals they can leach into the soil but they have other uses like roof insulation on their coop. The pallets will no doubt be of great use but I’m sure you will benefit greatly by seeing how resourceful Kathy & Kyle are and no doubt you can be too! Check out Freecycle.org – it’s a wonderful way to get materials for free. Just join for free in your local region. Hope this helps and happy reading! 🙂

Hi Christina
You have a few choices depending on your personal circumstances and plants you are using. 1. You can add some coarse soaked coir peat/coconut fibre or sphagnum moss in between the plants if they are spaced out a lot and the soil is going to tip out. This may help ‘hold’ them in by adding a barrier between the slats. 2. Ideally, if the planter is watered and left horizontally for 2-3 weeks as explained in the video tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOadilqJeeg), the plants will have an opportunity to develop their roots so they are more established and naturally hold the soil in place. After this time, the planter will be really heavy so you need to consider if you will have help to move/put it in place if you take that route. I add nutrients to my potting mix to ensure my plants have plenty of food to draw on to be healthy. 3. Adding a drip irrigation system at the back of the planter not only makes it easier and quicker to water but also ensures the plants get even moisture distribution from top to bottom so the soil is less likely to come out before your planter is fully established.
Hope these tips help! 🙂

Thanks Silvana! Appreciate your feedback and hope you’re inspired to start one of these projects. Cheers, Anne 🙂

Hi Karla
I’m not sure which cubby house image you refer to but you might be able to find some plans that are close to what you are looking for by Googling “cubby house plans” and then see if you can use pallet materials you have access to. Hope this helps. All the best with your project. 🙂

Hi Kerrie, so glad you enjoyed the article and great to hear you’ve already got a pallet garden underway. At the end of the post under Tips there’s a link with more info about pallets: “If you intend growing edibles in your pallet garden, do your due diligence – use heat treated (HT) marked hardwood pallets rather than those that have been fumigated and marked chemically treated (CT) or pressure treated. You can see an image of the Heat Treated symbol here. There are some useful tips on identifying treated wood and which to choose/steer clear of in the following articles: ‘All You Ever Wanted to know about Pallet Wood‘ and ‘How to Determine if a Wood Pallet is Safe for Use‘. This may help you gather more information.

It’s wise to Choose Safe Containers for Growing Food especially with any material with a past life! I err on the side of caution! So my advice would be if you can’t determine the history, use the pallets for ornamental plants or choose one of the other upcycling projects. Hope this helps! 🙂

Thanks Emmon – great to hear from you. So many of these projects really got my creative juices going too. It sometimes takes a little inspiration to get us thinking ‘outside the square’ of what we can achieve with less. I’m all for reusing and repurposing whenever I can and will be writing more on this in future posts. Stay tuned and thanks for dropping by.

Thanks Mike – let me know what you end up making … all ideas welcome. I often find it’s easier to imagine what’s possible with a little inspiration from other people’s creative ideas … just need a spark to light the fire! Then improvise with your own resources to come up with a creative solution. Have fun!

Hi Sue – totally agree about the timber if treated … I strongly believe in erring on the side of caution. As I mentioned at the end of the post under Tips, “If you intend growing edibles in your pallet garden, do your due diligence – use heat treated (HT) marked hardwood pallets rather than those that have been fumigated and marked chemically treated (CT) or pressure treated. Check what they’ve been used for to avoid chemical contamination. It’s wise to Choose Safe Containers for Growing Food especially with any material with a past life!” So my advice would be if you can’t determine the history, use the pallet for ornamental plants or choose one of the other upcyling projects.

Thanks so much for your tips JJ and sharing how you use pallets. Just a reminder to check before burning pallets that they are non-chemically treated though.

Thanks so much for your comment Sarah and glad you have found a few ideas … if we all recycle, reuse and reinvent everyday items whenever we can, we’ll help tread a little lighter on the planet.

Thanks David – it’s amazing what we can do with a little creative imagination. Great to see what you’ve been building with natural and recycled materials as well as teaching others these skills. Congratulations.

Glad you like the ideas David. I think it’s about seeing ‘resources’ in new ways with everyday items. Hope you find a project you’ll enjoy.