If you are short on space, or don’t have the time to dig a proper garden, or just think pallet gardening might something fun to try, I have put together a Pallet Gardening 101: Creating a Pallet Garden guide this tells you what to look for in a pallet and how I set mine up.
This year I have 6 wood pallet garden set up. So far 5 of them are planted.
The first pallet I planted was endive lettuce. Lettuce is one of those awesome crops you can grow outside pretty much as long as there are not freezing temperatures.
Last week I planted some of our extra strawberry crowns in a wood pallet. I grew strawberries in a recycled wood pallet last year and they did great. This year I spaced the strawberry plants out a bit more because the plants produced so many runners it was crazy.
Hopefully by starting with fewer strawberry plants in the pallet {only 16 this time} there will room for the runners to plant themselves in the open spaces of the wood pallet.
Romaine lettuce is pretty much and essential crop for anyone who loves Cesar salads.
More lettuce.
And celery! Last year I grew celery in both my raised garden beds AND recycled wood pallets and the celery thrived in both places. In fact the celery may have done better in the pallet because I had placed the pallet in a shady area of the garden and if there is one thing celery loves, its shade.
Whether you plant your vegetables in a traditional plot, exclusively container garden, or grow your food in pallets, having a garden is just plain cool. I can’t imagine a better hobby than growing your own food.
~Mavis
Sabrina Barton says
I would love to try this, but was worried about chemicals that might leach from the pallets.
trudie says
Sabrina, Mavis mentions this here: (the first link in the post) http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/2013/03/pallet-gardening-101-creating-a-pallet-garden/
Pamela says
Pallets are safe to use as long as they are marked with an HT on the side. This means they have been heat treated and not chemical treated.
Jennifer A. says
Hi Mavis,
Here is an awesome slow cooker chicken tortilla soup recipe
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/
Shari King says
Celery loves shade?? That explains last year’s failure! Wasn’t sure I had a sunny spot for a pallet, but now I know just where one could live happily! 😉
Kaia says
I’ll second the “Celery loves shade??” I now know another thing I’ll be planting (if I can find the seeds!)
P.S. Ran to WalMart for a watering can (or two) yesterday and stopped at the sight of gnomes I would normally pass up! Could take me a while to send it, but I was excited to buy one!
Mavis says
Awesome! Thank you Kaia. I’ve always had great luck growing celery in the shade. 🙂
Ree says
LOVE everything you share, Mavis! You are such a blessing!