Just outside my back door there’s a tiny paved courtyard, leading down to the rest of the garden. This area looked a bit bare but being a little sun trap had the potential to be a lovely place to sit, so I decided give it a makeover, starting with making some vertical planters out of pallets.
Not actually having any pallets, I put a shout out on Facebook in case any of my friends had any knocking about. Sure enough, an old work colleague came up trumps with a couple, so we arranged collection, lugged them into the garden, and set to work.
Before I could start on the pallets, the fence behind needed a lick of paint. This was brightened up no end with a coat of sage green, and the pallets were painted up to match. Next up, I stapled strips of old builders’ bags into the gaps to make planting areas, trimmed off the excess, and poked some holes in the bottom for drainage. I then wielded my newly acquired woman-drill, and attached the pallets to the fence with angle brackets. I’d actually underestimated how heavy they’d be – even without soil and plants, so was glad of the existing little wall to rest them on.
The planters looked great, but were a bit redundant without actual plants, so off I went to the garden centre, and returned with a collection of herbs, lettuce plugs, strawberries and some flowers for the patio pots. As this is a project on a budget, myself and the youngest were canny in picking the strawberry plants: only ones with runners were allowed into the trolley. Back at the ranch, we then filled the planting areas with compost and happily planted up our purchases. The strawberry runners were planted alongside the strawberries – giving us twice as many plants for our money.
A row of lettuce went into the bottom and herbs were popped in above. I was tempted to paint the names of the plants onto the wood, but with my track record, was reluctant to create anything too permanent in case they died or got eaten by something.
I have to admit the planters look great, and the patio area is coming along marvellously: little bistro set I found in town has finished off the look perfectly.
I’m delighted with the end result, and it will look better and better as the plants fill out and begin to trail over the sides of the pallets. A lovely place to sit and plan the next assault on the garden, with fresh salad, fruit and herbs for the picking.
Right outside my back door… what could be nicer?
Planters fro
