5 ideas for recycling wooden pallets in your garden

In this article I will present you with several ideas for recycle wooden pallets into economical garden elements.

Pallets are widely used to transport all types of goods and are easy to obtain, in most cases, for free. All you have to do is ask the shops. Since most are not recorded, they are thrown in the trash or burned! You could also collect them for create garden furniture at a lower costbut also a green wall, a vegetable garden, a fence or even a terrace! I’ll show you all this.

A green wall

The first idea is to create a file green wall very simply with a palette.

You can install it on your balcony or terrace and this It will replace planters nicely. You can also grow aromatic plants on it (in this case make sure that the pallet has not undergone chemical treatments).

In a previous article I translated the entire step-by-step method for making this creation, I invite you to read it here: create a green wall from a wooden pallet.

A square vegetable garden

Square gardens have become very popular in recent years. But sometimes ready-made kits are quite expensive even if the system is very simple.

Why not take a palette to create a square vegetable garden? It’s extremely simple because we will use the palette as it is (no need to disassemble it). We will fill it with soil using the same process used for the green wall (see above). Vegetable and aromatic plants will be placed between the boards, so there is almost no room for the bad ones to grow!

Since you will be planting plants there for consumption, make sure the pallet has not received any chemical treatment.

Link: the method in English (but the photos are enough to understand the steps) for creating this vegetable garden.

A terrace

Yes, you can create a terrace with pallets! There are even two solutions depending on the time you want to dedicate to it and your level of DIY.

The first example is the simplest to create because we will use the pallets in their original configuration, i.e. without dismantling them. On a stable and flat support, place them next to each other. Obviously you will have to be careful not to trip your foot in the spaces between the boards. You can integrate the pallets with the previous system (vegetable garden) to grow some plants and thus enhance your terrace.
You finally have it the possibility of painting the wood to give it an original color.

If the gaps between the boards scare you, nothing stops you from doing otherwise: use whole pallets as supports, then screw or nail the side-by-side strips of other pallets onto them. However, I advise you to always leave a small space between the boards to allow the water to drain and above all to prevent everything from deforming when the wood swells and deflates with the humidity brought by the rain.

For these two systems, since the wood of the pallets is often not of good quality, I do not recommend walking on them barefoot due to splinters.

Link: the method for creating this second terrace model.

The fence

The fence is an important element of the garden which, if it is long, can quickly become expensive. So, you might as well use pallets, especially since the wood gives a natural look which will often be more appreciated than metal for this type of construction. Furthermore, you can customize it easily. In the photo on the left the ends of the boards have been cut and the fence painted.

There are some small precautions to take to ensure that it is durable: you will have to drive the posts into the ground so that the fence holds up well. I advise you to opt for wooden poles sealed 50 cm into the ground and to which the pallets will be fixed. I recommend a stake between each pallet.

The furniture

The possibilities of using pallets to create garden furniture are enormous. They range from a simple table made up of two pallets stacked on top of each other to complete garden furniture and more sophisticated ones that will take some time and tools to create.

Whatever idea is used, remember that pallets are often made from low-quality wood and not all of them are designed to last outdoors. So don’t expect these results to last 10 years. But it remains a very economical way to do something even in your own garden. Thanks to their durability and low cost, you can regularly renew your creations!

Have you ever used pallets to create garden features?

Here are some other tips that might interest you