How to Make Raised Pallet Garden Boxes

When we bought our house in the fall, we knew we that we wanted to build a garden box come spring. We talked with our neighbor who had raised boxes to gather some intel. What areas got the best sun? How is the soil? What types of pests will we be battling?

After that conversation, we had decided to essentially mimic what our neighbor had done. The eastern side of the house is flat receives full sun, and raised beds would ease the amount of bending over we'd have to do will tending to the garden.

But then, COVID hit. We went out as little as possible and, with an uncertain future, conserved resources everywhere possible. It was our first spring in the house and the work - particularly yardwork - seemed endless. It was time to get creative. My dad had given us a bunch of nice pallets that we plan to make a pallet wall with in the basement, but surely, there were enough for multiple uses.

It only seemed natural to use them to create garden boxes. But how? Originally I thought we'd lay them flat on the ground and utilize the slats as rows, but in the end, decided on raised pallet boxes. If you like the idea of not saving your back and have a yard to provide you with natural resources, this may be the option for you, too!

Building the boxes is incredibly simple. You can get pallets just about anywhere, often for free. Just make sure they are stamped with HT - heat-treated, and not MB - Methyl Bromide, which is a highly toxic pesticide treatment. MB pallets are not appropriate for food growing or furniture making.

Once you have your pallets, zip them together with some screws and voila! You have your garden box! We ended up making three boxes - two that were two pallets long by one wide, and one cube. They are light and mobile enough that they can be moved by two people, so you can test out the setup that works best for you.

Of course, with extra height and slats of the pallets, we knew filling them would be a bit of a challenge. To begin with, if burrowing critters may be a concern for you, lay chicken wire inside the box on the ground. This will prevent animals from reaching your garden from the bottom, but deep-growing roots can still work through the wire.

Next, use what nature gave you! Remember that plentiful yardwork I mentioned? With our home, we inherited large piles of dead leaves. We have numerous trees in and surrounding our yard, and leaves make excellent mulch. If you, too, have trees, save some of those leaves that dropped over the fall! If you don't have trees, chances are you have a neighbor that would be happy to provide you with their leaf litter. Fill each box halfway with leaves.

Nature helped us out with some nice spring rain, but if none is in the forecast, spray the leaves down to compact them a bit. Then, add more leaves to bring them back up to the halfway point.

Then it's time for the soil fill. Our soil here is sandy, and, because it's not the final layer, made for a great fill. Again, because of the abundance of yardwork of our own and our neighbor's, we were able to utilize free resources we had right in our backyard.

Fill each box with soil to approximately six to eight inches from the top. Fair warning, however, this does take a lot of soil and manual labor, and, inevitably, some of the soil will fall out through the slats.

For an extra layer of compost, we added an inch or two of grass mulch that we discovered underneath the scavenged leaves. You can use whatever you have available to you - whether it's grass mulch, manure, or readied vegetable compost.

Finally, add the garden soil. We opted for organic soil intended for ground use and mixed it with our soil, for a total of about four to five inches. Over time, the layers will compact some and drop down to about six inches from the top.

If critters and pests are a problem, you can add additional wire fencing around it. About 12-18" of chicken wire unsupported by framing will help keep climbers out. You can also use chicken wire or other fencing to encourage vertical growth of your garden.

Our raised beds with multiple layers of natural compost and excellent drainage supplemented with monthly organic feedings have so far helped us grow a healthy garden! Have you built a pallet garden? How did it turn out? Let me know in the comments!