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Square Foot Gardening Forum
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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Toplef10My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) 1zd3ho10

Hello Guest!
Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum.
There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.

My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) I22gcj10My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) 14dhcg10

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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!)

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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Empty My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!)

Post  Amy in Idaho 3/30/2010, 1:20 am

So the excitement of the snow melting got me into the garden center where I saw the book and now I'm hooked. Read it in one night. Those of you from South East Idaho can relate to my complaint of clay soil. I had great yield on my regular garden the first year but it hasn't yielded much since. In my search for inexpensive and environmentally friendly recycling I decided to try making boxes out of pallets, even though everyone says they are a pain to get appart. A phone call to my engineer father (Mel might like that) led me to not try to take them all the way apart but just cut off the bottom six inches. He was thinking of the ones that are completely covered in boards. The ones I got were not fully covered but easily adapted. And they were exactly four feet wide. So three pallets and not much work later and I have two 4 x 4 boxes. I have two more pallets with irregular length boards to make some 2 x 2's next. Here's how I did it. First off, pallets are nailed together with horrid nails, luckily I got most out ok and re-used them to nail my slats on where I wanted them. I wore gloves to protect my hands. A flathead screwdriver inserted along the nailed edge makes it much easier to get the nail heads far enough out to use the claw of the hammer. I had to pound it in with the hammer and wiggle. But luckily, I didn't need to remove many boards. Just the good ones I wanted moved elsewhere from my third extra pallet and the broken and crooked ones. Here's how it looks.

Back of the pallet after I removed the back three supports and all the crooked and broken slats. I then filled in the gaps with good boards.
My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Img00211

One side down. After this I nailed two more boards to the flush ends.
My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Img00212

My finished box, 4' x 4' x 7". Took me two hours to make two from three pallets.
My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Img00213

I will have to reinforce my corners but not bad for free.
Tools used: gloves, hammer, flathead screwdriver, measuring tape, old fashioned sweat driven wood saw.


Last edited by Amy in Idaho on 3/30/2010, 1:30 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : typo)
Amy in Idaho
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Post  Theresa 3/30/2010, 5:59 am

Amy I love FREE!!

You really did some great work changing that pallet around and turning it into a SFG!

Keep the pictures coming, I want to see more!!
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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Empty whoo hoo free!

Post  chocolatepop 3/30/2010, 8:25 am

I used pallets last year for some of my boxes too (namely my potato box). The work involved is nothing compaired to the pride that you get to show with a great FREE product.
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Post  ayanefan 3/30/2010, 9:30 am

This post is very useful, quite ingenious.

My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Sailorforumsealofapproval
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Post  Lavender Debs 3/30/2010, 9:33 am

If this is what you can do with a pallet, I can hardly wait to see what you do with the plants ....and recipes!

Deborah ....thinking that this is just the start of WoW
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Post  minimom56 3/30/2010, 11:13 am

This is my first day on site-so excited. Now I have lots of pallets and didnt know what to do with them as I am in process of moving and wanting to do above ground gardening. I live in a very rocky area so above is best and easy! Thanks for the tip and cant wait to read more- gotta keep packin!!!
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Post  choksaw 3/30/2010, 11:21 am

Awesome way to recycle and very cost effective great job look forward to seeing how things go for you good luck My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Icon_biggrin
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Post  Retired Member 1 3/30/2010, 12:52 pm

Great post -- thank you. My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Icon_sunny

I had wondered about using pallets for raised beds myself, but it looked like too much work. With this inspiration, I might just try for a flower bed.
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Post  timwardell 3/30/2010, 2:17 pm

Congratulations. Nice job! You earn a dancing banana! rock on
Can't wait to see what they look like planted.
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Post  SirTravers 3/30/2010, 8:33 pm

Now that just gets my redneck side to brainstormin..... I say Git R Done!
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Post  Kabaju42 3/30/2010, 9:26 pm

I love the boxes, those are great. And those of us in Utah know the clay soil too, what a pain!
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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Empty Thanks everyone!

Post  Amy in Idaho 3/31/2010, 12:32 am

I love all your comments! Thanks so much for the support!
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Post  aptgardengirl 3/31/2010, 12:54 am

Wow they look Great! and free to whooo hoo My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Fresse
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My Very First Boxes (From Pallets!) Empty Great idea

Post  tomgnh 3/31/2010, 10:46 am

A short piece of 4x4 outside the corner to nail the 2x4s to should be pretty strong
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Post  jerzyjen 4/2/2010, 10:07 am

very nice! I too used pallets last year to start my first 2 boxes. I was lucky enough to get decent pallets with 2 x 6s on the tops, so i just carefully pry-ed them off with crowbars and removed the nails, then just built the boxes like mel says in this book. I'm thinking I will need to replace them next year. I don't mind rebuilding boxes every two years if i can save money and the environment by repurposing.

I also used leftover crate wood to make my new boxes this year, but this wood is in great shape and should last a while hopefully.
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