Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

My wife and I are approaching #59. She might get a pallet project for that in the way of a porch planter.

Well, congratulations to you as well! 59 years together! You must have married young.

One of my first pallet projects on this thread was building planters for Dear Wife. Like a Goldilocks story, the first was too small, the second too big, but the third one was just right! In the end, she is using all of them and quite happy.

We had a number of half whiskey barrel planters that just starting falling apart after many years. So I made these pallet wood planters for her...

They are out in the yard full of flowers now. So life is good. Dear Wife is happy.

 

[Nomadicus]

Well, congratulations to you as well! 59 years together! You must have married young.

One of my first pallet projects on this thread was building planters for Dear Wife. Like a Goldilocks story, the first was too small, the second too big, but the third one was just right! In the end, she is using all of them and quite happy.

We had a number of half whiskey barrel planters that just starting falling apart after many years. So I made these pallet wood planters for her...

View attachment 3624828

They are out in the yard full of flowers now. So life is good. Dear Wife is happy.

That and we are also old.... getting old old. Old enough to need new hips, knees, and shoulders....

 

[chickengr]

I became a big fan of raised beds about 10 years ago. I live on a lake and my soil is mostly sand. Nothing grew very well in my sandy soil. When I started building raised beds, I filled them with a high-quality topsoil and immediately had better results. Since I got my composting chickens, I fill my pallet wood hügelkultur raised beds with the top 6-8 inches of topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. That really works for me. Chickens, composting, and gardening all go together.

I like the idea of hugelkultur but no wood around here. I will burry old clothes instead. they will just help with moisture.

 

[gtaus]

I was in town yesterday and saw a firewood stand selling about 5 thin splits of wood for $6.99 a bundle.

I wonder how much money I have stacked up in my pallet wood firewood holder? Maybe $500, or more?

Instead of renting a stump grinder for $100.00 a day, I have been burning out the stumps with this wood. Turns out I might be burning about $200.00 or more of wood per stump!

 

[ChicksnMore]

I like the idea of hugelkultur but no wood around here. I will burry old clothes instead. they will just help with moisture.

That's an interesting idea! Large wood likes best for burying is scarce here too. I use lots of tree trimmings which break down faster than wanted.
Hope you share how it works out for you. Might be really helpful for getting landscape plants established in the crazy dry, crazy high heat conditions we get.

 

[gtaus]

Speaking of firewood and chainsaws, when I was in town yesterday, I purchased a brand-new Ryobi 40v 14-inch chainsaw. It was on Clearance, originally $229.00 marked down to $115.00 (tool only)!

I already have one of these Ryobi 40v 14-inch chainsaws and it has worked great for me for many years. But the 5-year warranty on that chainsaw expired this summer. So, I picked this new unit up for a great price. Since I am a veteran, I got an additional 10% off the clearance price bringing the cost down to $103.50 plus tax. The way I look at it, I am guaranteed to have a good chainsaw, under warranty, for $20 per year for the next 5 years.

I don't normally purchase a tool if I still have one that works, but I know that if my older chainsaw should die, it would have to be replaced with whatever the current price of the chainsaw was at that time. I have 3 acres of lawn and woods, so I always need good chainsaws. This year alone, I had two 50-foot-tall trees fall down from windstorms and I had to cut another 50-foot pine tree down that was dying. So, this was what I call a preemptive purchase - just in case.

For the chainsaw enthusiasts out there, Ryobi now has 40v chainsaws with 14-, 16- and 18-inch bars and chains. Thinking the way I do, I contacted Ryobi tech support and asked them if there was any difference between the 40v motors on the 14-, 16- and 18-inch chainsaws, because it sure is not apparent to me. Given that they probably use the same 40v motor on all their chainsaws, I asked if I could upgrade my 14-inch bar and chain to an 18-inch bar and chain.

Much to my surprise, they responded and said I could upgrade with an 18-inch bar and chain replacement if I wanted!

It just so happens that last year I purchased a replacement 18-inch bar and chain combo at our local Fleet store at an insane clearance price of about $5.00! So, I plan on putting that combo on the chainsaw, giving me an 18-inch chainsaw for about $110.00 compared to the current price of $289.00!

Sorry about the diversion of topics, but chainsaws are my mind as my last two pallet projects were building both a pallet wood firewood holder for the campfire and a bigger pallet wood firewood storage bin by the garden shed.

 

[gtaus]

I like the idea of hugelkultur but no wood around here. I will burry old clothes instead. they will just help with moisture.

I suppose a person has to use what they have available. If it works, go for it. As I heard it, the guy who came up with the hügelkultur system had a surplus of junk tree wood that he had to get rid of.

 

[gtaus]

Large wood likes best for burying is scarce here too. I use lots of tree trimmings which break down faster than wanted.

I guess I should feel very lucky that I have so much tree wood to work with on my property. No shortage of trees falling down. When I make my pallet wood hügelkultur raised beds, I start off with a base of large tree trunk logs, then medium size branches, then comes the twigs and small stuff, followed by a layer of green organic matter before I top it off with topsoil and compost mixed 1:1. I lose 1-2 inches of soil height in the raised bed every year as the organic matter, twigs, and branches break down. I top fill the beds with fresh compost every spring, and sometimes again in the fall so the compost can age over winter. In theory, the decomposing wood underneath and the fresh compost on top every year makes the raised bed better with age.

I really became a big fan of the hügelkultur method a few years ago when we had a drought summer. It did not rain at all from mid-May until sometime in September.

I don't have running water in my lakeside garden. All my inground plants dried up and died. All my plants in "normal" raised beds died. The only plants that survived the summer and bore food were the plants in my hügelkultur raised beds. Until that terrible drought summer, I never saw much difference between the various methods of planting the garden. When times were tough, the hügelkultur method was the clear champion.

Lesson learned, I have since moved almost all my gardening to my backyard, by the chicken coop and run, where I can run a garden hose to water the plants whenever they need it. No more depending on the natural rainfall. I still use the hügelkultur method in all my backyard pallet wood raised garden beds. It just works better for me in so many ways.

 

[Nomadicus]

I've spotted a really large stack of pallets that have been there a long time where I get my chicken feed. Today I'm asking about hauling some of them off for them. The first thing I need to do is build some easy make chicken box nests to put on the ground in coops for broody hens.

 

[gtaus]

I've spotted a really large stack of pallets that have been there a long time where I get my chicken feed. Today I'm asking about hauling some of them off for them. The first thing I need to do is build some easy make chicken box nests to put on the ground in coops for broody hens.

Sounds great. Please post some pictures of your project and share with the rest of us. I know I get lots of good ideas from looking at pictures.