Planters made from recycled timber
I started making planters from recycled pallets for my backyard. They work really well. I’ve used them for years. Up-cycling pallets destined for landfill into productive growing space feels excellent.
My oldest ones are still going strong after almost 4 years of watering and food production.
These are perfect for renters. Take your garden with you. They do weigh quite a lot when they’re full, so take extra care when moving house!
For my balcony, I added a seat to an arrangement of 5 planters. Now my family have lunch out there most days when the weather is fine. You can reach over and graze on the produce as you sit with your coffee. It's very pleasing. The other pleasing thing about the balcony planters is I added a worm/compost box to each one. Worms deal with the food scraps you put in there and carry the nutrients to the plants you have growing. It doesn't smell and you don't have far to go to get rid of the scraps from the kitchen. Win-win!
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Standard Planter W100cm x D50cm x H70cm $150
The planters are made from recycled shipping pallets. There are lots of pallets around. Some are heat treated; some are painted, some have been treated with pesticides. We make sure to ONLY use the heat-treated ones for our planters. We don’t want to risk contamination in our food!
3 planks deep give you about 30cm of soil which is perfect for veg and herbs.
Standard planter with compost/worm bin. W100cm x D50cm x H70cm $220
The worm/compost bin is made from form-ply. Form-ply is tough plywood that has a waterproof skin coating both surfaces. It has worm-shaped slots for worms to come and go taking the nutrients from your compost to your plants and spreading their worm-castings around. If you’re like me, you’ll have one of these in a planter on your balcony so you don’t have to walk far to compost the scraps from the kitchen.
Worm / Compost Bin. The box part that gets buried in the planter soil is W30cm D15cm H29cm. The lid is W32cm D17cm H6.7cm. $80
The worm/compost bin is made from form-ply. Form-ply is tough plywood that has a waterproof skin coating both surfaces. It has worm-shaped slots for worms to come and go taking the nutrients from your compost to your plants and spreading their worm-castings around. If you’re like me, you’ll have one of these in a planter on your balcony so you don’t have to walk far to compost the scraps from the kitchen.
The lid fits easily onto the box and prevents smells from escaping and too much water getting in. Too much water is bad for the worms. The great thing about having the worm/compost bin in the planter is that the worms can choose the conditions they want. There’s usually a water gradient in the soil. If it’s too damp at the bottom the worms will go closer to the surface.
Planter with built-in seat. Planter is W100cm D50cm H55cm. Seat is W100cm D29cm H46.5cm. $180
The planter is made this height so the seat is the perfect height for sitting at while you have lunch and a graze on your produce! The seats pictured were made from someone’s discarded shelves, but they can be made from pallet-wood planks too.
This set go around a corner, but they work great in a straight row too. There’s no tipping possibility in normal use due to the weight of the growing soil.
Extra Large Planter W100cm x D50cm x H100cm $190
Same as the standard planter but taller. If you’re tall and you don’t like bending over, this is the one for you!
The height can be customised as you like. If you have a verandah rail or something you want the planters to match, just ask. It’s no problem.
Soil Kit. $89
Quality organic soil, compost, and worms to make sure you have everything you need to get growing fast.