No dig pallet veggie garden

[Ann@Monto]

I've been thinking about making an upright pallet garden and finally convinced hubby it's a good idea. Anyway here's piccys of the end result (before tweaking it - which I'm still in the process of doing).

I didn't factor in just how much the soil would settle. It's sunk at least a foot, well sunk and "leaked" as well.

I collected the soil from the local show grounds (lost count of how many bags full probably 40 or 50). It was a mix of well rotted horse manure and old sawdust (closer to fine wood chips). A friend suggested putting a bale or two of straw in the middle so I didn't have to collect so much dirt. That will be for my next one. I would mix more horse manure in next time to make it for friable, it's quite dry and hydrophobic and runs out like sand.

 

[Mark]

That's a very inventive garden bed! Cool

It's sort of like a garden pyramid made of pallets, which would help the bottom plants get more sun than if it was a straight square or rectangle.

I see you have all sorts of plants growing in there are you planning to make more or is this a feature veggie garden one off only?

 

[Ann@Monto]

No, definitely not a one off. I made a small herb one yesterday, I'm not into chipping out dirt and bending down weeding anymore. Very space saving too, although we have more room than ever. Hubby bought me a drill and a drill bit set, I'm stoked. Have put it to good use already.

The tomatoes sort of took over, and since I figured they were all going to frost off soon anyway, I trimmed them all back and just kept the branches with tomatoes on them. They're all ripening, but I have to keep on top of the new growth. I planted out 12 snow pea seedlings yesterday. They were found stewing in the bottom of the crisper tray (oopsy's), and had actually sprouted, so I planted in seed raising mix and they're going great guns. Free seedlings how good is that. Have another 12 in the pipe line as well.

I quit work just before the school holidays so have much more time to do what I love.

 

[Mark]

Peas could almost hang down the structure rather than growing up if you planted them at the top that is...

I've been experimenting lately with growing climing plants down instead of training them up - some mixed results but it's an interesting method to try.

 

[StuartGrows]

THIS IS SO COOL!

Just a note that you should be careful with pallets, make sure that you clean them VERY well. You never know what was shipped on them, or what they may have sat in during transit. Could be some nasty chemicals.

 

[Mark]

Very good point!