How To: Build a Raised Garden Bed Out of Old Pallets!

How to easily build a raised garden bed out of wooden pallets for free! …Well almost free. Building a raised vegetable garden with pallets or reclaimed wood is a really rewarding experience. The garden bed idea out of pallets came about from the fact that l wanted to build a rustic looking raised garden bed. A vegetable garden bed that not only provides delicious food, but looks good at the same time. The recycled wood has come from hardwood timber pallets that have been sourced totally FREE of charge!

I've always wanted to build a raised vegetable garden bed so stay tuned to this video.
The garden beds will be approx. 2.4 metres (8 foot) long x 1.2metres (4 foot) wide.

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To construct the wooden pallet raised garden bed is a very simple operation. One thing you need to keep in mind is that whenever you work with wooden pallets, don't expect the job to look perfect. Pallet timbers are often twisted, cupped and come in different sizes (which is also a good reason why l like hardwood pallets as they are generally pretty good). The trick to using pallets is to emphasize the timbers imperfections, which adds to the rustic appeal.

Materials and Tools Required for Constructing a Raised Vegetable Garden Bed out of Wooden Pallets with sides of 380mm (15 inches) high and 2400mm (94 inches) long are;

Materials:
Three to Four Hardwood Pallets. (Free)
Two Packets (100 screws per packet) of 40mm Outdoor Screws to build your Panels. $14.00
One Packet of 65mm (50 per Packet) Out door Screws to attach your Panels to each other. $8.00

Tools:
Drop Saw, Hand Saw or Circular Saw.
Cordless Drill with size 2 Phillips Head Bit.
Drill bit for drilling pilot holes. The drill bit needs to be smaller in diameter than the screw you are using.
An Electric Planer (if you plan to dress your timber).
A Square.
A Bar Clamp (used for pulling the boards together if you want a tight fit prior to screwing together)
A Tape Measure.
A Nail Punch.
A Hammer.
A Pencil.
A Shovel and a,
Spirit Level.

Extras if Desired:

One length of 25mm Poly Pipe at 3 metres long and two 20mm lengths of 3 metre Poly Pipe (used for bird netting support). $20.00

One packet of 25mm galvanized pipe brackets (to secure the Poly Pipe). $6.00
Bird Netting. $15.00
One Roll of Garden Mat. $12.00
One tin (1 litre) of water based oil. $25.00

Here's the process:

1: Dismantle the timber pallets. You can either use my method or look up on YouTube for other methods. I used four pallets for this project.

2: Cut square ends on all your wooden pallet slats. When doing this l want to retain the old nail holes (for that rustic charm) so l try and leave these on if possible.

3: Select the configuration of your boards and line them up end to end to form two long sides and two short ends. When you have them all squared up, use some short timber offcuts and screw the lengths together in the middle where they meet.

4: Stand the sides up and screw together with external grade screws. Make sure you predrill all your holes otherwise the pallet wood will split. Attach timber slats joining one side of the garden bed to the other. This will prevent the sides of the garden bed from pulling apart when the soil is placed in.

5: Now that your raised garden bed has been put together, place it where you want it to go. Preferably have it orientated north / south (at least it works this way in the southern hemisphere).

6: Using a spirit level, level the vegetable garden bed. This may require a little excavation work.

7:To make provision for bird netting, attach four 12-inch pieces of 25mm PVC pipe inside the bed using tube straps. You can then insert a length of 20mm PVC into the tube which you can drape bird netting over.

8: Line the floor of the garden bed with thick cardboard or garden mat.

9: Line the inner walls of the raised garden bed with garden mat as this will help protect the timber from rot as well as stop water and dirt from escaping through the cracks between the boards..

So there you have it! A raised garden bed made out of reclaimed pallet wood. What a RIPPA!

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Cheers,
Uncle Knackers.