Green Your Balcony With a Beautiful Pallet Garden

Live in a tiny apartment with no room for a garden? Life on the Balcony may just have the answer to gardening in even the narrowest of spaces — and it all comes down to a recycled shipping pallet. We’ve already seen a theater built from recycled pallets, not to mention DIY pallet-wood Appalachian Gothic architecture, but this might be the simplest, and most beautiful, uses for this oh-so-abundant waste product. There are even simple instructions for how to build your own.

Having published photos of her gorgeous pallet garden, Fern Richardson of container gardening blog Life on the Balcony was inundated by comments on how to build the thing. So she promised a video tutorial.

Sadly, the weather did not turn out as planned, so video footage had to be nixed. But she has put together a step-by-step photographic tutorial on how to build a pallet garden and how to care for it too. It’s really pretty simple stuff, and all you need is some potting soil, a pallet, a small roll of landscape fabric, a staple gun, staples, and sand paper. Oh, and some plants to put in your garden once you are done.

In the tradition of all the best DIY garden enthusiasts, Fern shares both what you should do in theory to care for your pallet garden, and what she always ends up doing in practice:

Now, I’m going to tell you what you should do, and I what I always end up doing (which is what you should not do). You should leave the pallet flat on the ground for a couple of weeks (watering when needed), so that the roots can start to grow in and hold all the plants in place. I can never wait though, so I always tip the pallet upright a few days after planting. Some soil does fall out, but it seems to be okay. But I think it would be better if you left it to settle and only tipped it upright after a few weeks. Do as I say, not as I do.

With vertical gardens, vertical farms and living walls being such a huge thing in the green world, this might just be the cheapest, and easiest way to start using narrow, vertical spaces for growing plants and even food. Head on over to Life on the Balcony for full instructions.

This post was originally published by Treehugger.

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Photo from Myxi via flickr
Written by Sami Grover, a Treehugger blogger

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LMj S.

5:49PM PDT on Apr 2, 2013

Awesome, thank you.

April 2
send a green star

5:48PM PDT on Apr 2, 2013

Jelica R.

4:34PM PDT on Mar 21, 2013

Vertical Pallet Garden -- YouTube Video; 10 min.

March 21
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Sonia M.

5:14AM PDT on Mar 14, 2013

Great article.Thanks for sharing

March 14
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Anna M.

7:14AM PST on Feb 27, 2013

I am so excited about this! I have been thinking, preparing for this spring, trying to find ways to beautify my apartment balcony. I unfortunately, do not have any plants in my home, and was not a very garden-type kind of woman, but I would really like to change this beginning with the balcony. I was also very worried about costs and what to actually put out there. This is fantastic! I will surely read the blog and gather supplies in preparation for warmer weather. I hope the plants recommended are for all seasons. Such a great look!

February 27
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James M.

2:07AM PST on Jan 24, 2013

This is just incredible. It does not only recycle things but it sure adds a whole new look to these gardens. This is really a wonderful and artistic way of recycling which in turn helps in the preservation of the environment. Thank you for sharing this post. Certainly, this is an inspiration. Sure pallet gardening is the low budget gardening. I have found some more tips and ideas for DIY-er who wants to learn to make a pallet garden - http://www.rosebudmag.com/hydro-pop/diy-pallet-herb-garden-ideas-projects-for-family-backyard-farming