Pallet Garden

Since our location right now is not permenant, I decided to try a pallet garden.  It's cheap, easy to put together, and best of all, movable. 

I have several fun varieties of strawberries that needed to get in the ground but I didn't want it to be a permenant placement.  I have seen all the Pinterest pins on "vertical gardening" and growing in a pallet, so I decided to try it so that I can still grow my strawberries this summer and still be able to take them with us after we move.  

To build a pallet garden it requires just a few items.  

- a pallet- make sure that it is not treated with chemicals.  This pallet I used is Heat treated so it is completely safe.  Look for the stamp with an "HT" printed on the pallet.  

- weed barrier fabric 

- staple gun and staples

You have to line the inside of the pallet with the weed barrier to keep the soil in.  Weed barrier is breathable and soil can seep through as well so the plants don't get water logged.

I started out by measuring the weed barrier a little longer than the pallet and a little wider than 1/2 the pallet so that I could like it up the sides.  

I decided to plant in the pallet upside down to make more support underneath for transport.  

I stapled the fabric all through out 1/2 of the pallet since there is a center support beam, I just worked around it. 

Next I started tacking on the sides.  I decided to fold it like a present.  It seems to seal the soil in just perfectly too.  

Next I folded it so that it overlapped on top of the pallet to make it secure. 

Here it is folded over the top of the pallet and tacked down with staples 

It only took about 20 minutes to get both sides done.  It was super fast and free- since I had all of the supplies on hand.

For the soil, I used 50/50 soil from the garden and potting soil.  I didn't want it to be too heavy but needed the sandy loam soil for the strawberries to do well.  Strawberries are notorious for being chlorotic, so before I waterd it I sprinkled some blood meal 

around each plant to give them a boost. 

Here is the finished product 

  I still plan on adding some vinyl on the pallets when I figure out which varieties they are.  

Follow us on Facebook this summer to watch the Pallet Garden transform!