Sunday 6 August 2017

Making a planter out of scrap wood

Hello. It's been a good day for getting on with jobs in the garden. The sun has been shining, with a slight breeze to cool things down. The wood has been on the table all night, waiting for me to do something with it. I seem to remember I got it from the scrap wood pile at B & Q when I worked there ten years ago. 
 First of all assemble four sides. I only had to cut the thin pieces, then screw them together.
Next make four legs. This wood came from a skip. All I had to do was to cut two pieces in half to make four.

I even had the saw out of the same skip. The man doing the house renovation said it is no good. I took it anyway because I thought I might be able to make something arty out of it. I cleaned it up, and lo and behold, it cuts better than the saw I already have.

And there we have it, one planter. I had to nail the legs to the body because I didn't have any screws long enough. I wanted legs so the wood wouldn't rot so quickly from standing on the ground.


For the bottom I attached a piece of wire mesh. It's tacked all the way around the edge with small nails, and supported buy two cross members. The mesh if you remember was bought from the £1 shop, I used some of it for an art project.

A lick of paint and it's ready.



I could have probably made it two slats deep, because it's going to be heavy once it's full. I need to find a permanent place for it. I will put a sheet of plastic on the bottom with drainage holes in it. It should last a good few years, the wood is similar to pallet wood, and my raised beds lasted six years. I might decorate the sides. At the moment it's under the summer house porch. I'm quite chuffed with it. I've just had a thought. If it had a lid on it, it could be used as a coffee table with storage.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

24 comments:

  1. That looks brilliant and very useful

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  2. Looks great! Look forward to seeing it planted. Annie (Glos.)

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  3. A good afternoon's work. Well done.

    Joan (Devon)

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  4. Looks great. I'd be chuffed too. A good use of the wood. X

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  5. well done Ilona more creativity

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  6. I would love to have it in my garden filled with flowers, you could always half fill it with old flower pots or similar to make it lighter to move around.

    Well done,
    Hazel c uk

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  7. Well done. Want one. Planter not coffee table.

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  8. What a wonderful use of the wood. I can't use a saw to save my life.

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  9. Wow, well done! That will look great in your garden. Have a good week.

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  10. This is great Ilona, I wish my hands were strong enough that I could do this sort of thing!

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  11. Lovely project! I have put polystyrene chunks in the bottom of big pots before now. Makes it lighter and cheaper...didn't seem to affect the plants either. Rose X

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  12. My husband has been saying for weeks he's going to make me some planters from pallets he's not got round to it yet I'm going to show him this post your planter is fab it may motivate him to get cracking although he's making shelves for the shed at the mo lol so I may have to wait.

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  13. wowser! you are so talented!! there is a skip round the corner from me with a couple of old skirting boards in it - i'm going to see if i can rescue them and try what you've made. I like the idea of a herb planter; i currently am using an old tyre but the snails keep getting in there and feasting off my greens!

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  14. I had a home made one similar to your planter years ago. The difference was that mine had much shorter legs and no bottom to it at all. It was designed to conceal a plastic tub and thus be interchangeable. In summer it was full of annuals, swapped for bulbs in the spring and so on. This meant that the bulbs were not disturbed, and things that were still flowering in summer could be left somewhere else less prominent to fade, whilst evergreens or a tub of winter pansies took their place. Being made of marine ply off cuts, and not directly in contact with the soil, it lasted for twenty years or more. Plastic tubs inside could fade or chip and not show. Jean.

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  15. Brilliant, thought it would be. love the colour. Can't wait to see it full of flowers.
    Briony
    x

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  16. This is lovely!!,I wish i was as handy as you Ilona.Ive not yet tried my hand at doing one of these...But i am going to have a try,lol.When i have big containers,err...ready made ones...I always fill the bottom..well half of it...with newspapers that my very kind neighbour saves for me each week.That way it saves on compost and soil and has always been ok.I just screw them up,fill half way then tip my soil on top of it,Best wishes Debi,Leic,x

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  17. Now that is really nice and is something I could make. I have all the wood from my son's pine bunkbed.It won't even need sanding.

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  18. mad about the planter, I think it's gorgeous. Well done. xx

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  19. Brilliant! Where do you get your ideas? Karen

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  20. That's a really lovely planter. We have accumulated quite a bit of pallet wood, so I might have a go at making one, thanks.

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  21. I love the planter, especially with the legs. What a good job and the colour is wonderful.

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  22. love the cat with it...looks as if it passed inspection!
    Thanks for the inspiration...I have this small heap of wood offcuts....

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