DIY : Palette Style Raised Garden

After our success from our porch raised planter last summer, Mister and I were determined to have a raised vegetable garden down in the yard this year.  So much so it has it's own place on our yearly list!  Plus my aunts had wild success with theirs last year so we were inspired to try our own!

Originally we planned on buying cedar and constructing our own garden.  But then I was home sick one day and saw the Property Brothers make one out of a palette on the Today Show and I was sold.  (Can we all agree that after 8:30 segment the whole Today Show really goes downhill?) 

We often have palettes at work from deliveries so I snatched up the next one I came across. 

Here's how we tackled it...

Supplies needed:

Palette

Flower/Vegetable Soil

Garden Fabric

Staple gun

Veggies/Plants/Flowers

Small Shovel

Water

Nosy basset hound (optional)

We opted to start from plants this year rather than from seed.  Seed worked really great for us last year but since this was our first go 'round with an actual garden I choose to start with plants. 

1.  Find a sunny (but not too sunny) spot in the yard

Thankfully for us we have an area in our yard where a tree was cut down and grass has decided not to grow.  Sad for our grass, perfect for palette placement.

2.  Flip your palette over

I decided to use the underside of the palette, where the boards are in more of a quadrant rather than the slats (shown above).  If I were just doing flowers I would use the slatted side.

3. Staple garden fabric to sides of palette

The purpose of the garden fabric is to keep weeds from growing up into your garden.  Because our grass is dead we do not have to worry too much about that.  It also keeps all of your soil from spilling out all over the ground.

4.  Fill with soil

We went with Sta Green Flower and Vegetable Garden Soil.  There are a lot of options out there but this one seemed to fit the bill for what we needed.  Remember you are going to be eating what is growing from this soil so you want to start with soil of decent quality.

And this is where the nosy basset hound comes in

5.  Get to planting!
We planted sweet potatoes, romaine lettuce, peppers and cucumbers!

These photos were about a week and a half ago and I am happy to say things are growing quite nicely!  I will update soon! The cucumbers and lettuce have really taken off this week!

This photo below was over this past weekend and it is even bigger than this now!

I used chalkboard paint on paint stirrers to work as the markers so we know what is where.

And lastly, don't forget to water and feed.  I made sure to give the plants a good dose of plant food (one rated for vegetables you will be eating) and a good watering once they are planted.  I like to make sure plants (flowers) get a lot of good water until they are established.

I am totally in love with the idea of walking out into our yard and grabbing vegetables for our dinners.  That idea makes me so happy.
And the fact that this project was SO easy is just a bonus.
All in, this whole project cost around $30 (palette was free).

We are also growing tomatoes in another area and spinach, basil and rosemary in the porch raised planter.

Any questions feel free to ask!