Succulent Pallet Garden Ideas

This gorgeous pallet garden is filled with drought-tolerant, easy to care for plants that look amazing all year, no matter what you put them through. The stained finish just puts it over the top. I could stare at this gorgeous thing all day. (found on Pinterest, source unknown)

I’m a sucker for succulents. I use them anywhere, anytime for any reason. They live indoors through the winter. They overwinter outdoors in pots. They go especially well in fairy gardens. If I’m at a nursery and there are succulents, you can’t stop me from buying 5.

Mainly because succulents pass the brown thumb test.

Yes, I run a nursery, but I’m terrible at growing plants indoors. I started with LOTS of houseplants. If it died, I never bought it again. This approach whittled down my winter lovelies to something manageable. Ficus. Geranium. Begonia. And lots and lots of succulents.

Here’s another gorgeous succulent pallet garden from The Urchin Collective.

Herb Pallet Garden Ideas

The greatest thing about herbs, besides making your food yummy, is that they don’t need a ton of space to grow. Of course, they’d rather be in the ground. I mean, what plant doesn’t? Fortunately, herbs can endure some crowding.

The smallest sized pot recommended for growing herbs is 6″. That’s pretty small.

These pallet herb gardens aren’t even utilizing all the space for soil. They’ve only added bottoms to each ‘shelf’ to hold everything in. All they need now is some rich organic potting soil and some sunlight. (afternoon shade preferred)

This vertical herb garden beautiful and creatively clever! Using chalkboard paint adds such a nice touch. I use this paint to label SO many things. Craft boxes, jars and so much more. Using chalk to label your plants is so fun. Change your herbs and labels as much as you want!  The chalk will probably wash off with every rain if not protected, but it’s so cute, I think it’s worth rewriting!

Another gorgeous herb garden, built by Zina’s husband (slave). The labels on this one won’t wash off in the rain. And it’s just breathtaking. I mean, what craft CANT you pull off with beautiful penmanship? 😀

Jen and her mom (from JenAroundTheWorld) did such a beautiful job building this herb pallet garden, and an excellent job explaining how they did it. I love this rendition of the herb pallet garden because it holds so much more soil for the herbs to grow in. Herbs don’t need a ton of soil, but this design gives it much more space to spread. They laid the pallet flat to plant the garden and let it sit flat for about 2 weeks to allow the soil to settle. When the roots start to put on some growth, they place the new beautiful pallet garden upright into a vertical garden.

If you’re worried about chemical leaching, or the idea of filling the whole pallet with soil turns you off, here’s a clever little twist! Just use the pallet as shelves for your pots to organize your herb garden! This idea was featured by Jen from PinkWhen. I love how compact, organized and adorable it is as a display.
(More about chemically treated pallets below).

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re very handy, you can create this beautiful standing herb planter, shown here by BonniePlants. This particular planter was not created with a pallet, but if you’re short on wood, you can pull one apart and put it back together like so. If you’re not handy but love this design, you can buy one like it.

Vegetable Pallet Garden Ideas

Everyone loves a vegetable garden. But most people think you need a huge garden to grow them.

Not the case.

I’m actually pretty surprised at how little space can grow so much produce. I’ve seen this in square foot gardening.

I’ve also seen volunteer tomato seeds sprout in the most unimaginable places. The corner of a wood chip pile on a driveway? And it grew like crazy. Who knew?

You can create some breathtaking vegetable gardens with pallets. Take a look at this beauty featured at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival. I absolutely love the use of multiple pallets to create height and I’m amazed at how well those babies are growing.

What about fruit?

Just LOOK at this gorgeous strawberry pallet planter by LovelyGreens Who wouldn’t LOVE to look at that every day, and have yummy strawberries to boot! Berry Smoothies anyone? I’m down for that.  You can view the instructions on Tanya’s website. Or you can watch her build it on youtube.

if you’re worried about treated wood, or leeching chemicals, here’s some advice:

Most wood  pallets will have an IPPC logo, since they oversee internationally-shipped pallets. Pallets that ship overseas are the ones usually treated or fumigated to prevent the spread of invasive pests. Here are the marks to look out for (they should be near the IPPC logo):

• HT – This means the pallet was heat treated, possibly with harmful chemicals.
• MB – This indicates that the pallet was fumigated with methyl bromide, a toxic pesticide. Pallet makers are phasing out methyl bromide, but you may still see this mark on some older pallets.

You can also educate yourself to recognize what pressure treated wood looks like. Head to your local home improvement store and poke around the lumber section. Pressure treated wood looks different from untreated wood, and once you see the difference in color, it should be pretty easy to spot.

Flower Pallet Garden Ideas

Flowers are the prize of everyone’s garden. And anyone can grow them.

Annual flowers, again, don’t need immense root systems to grow well. Just good potting soil, sunshine and keep an eye on the water.

Have you ever seen how many wax begonias they shove in one hanging pot at the nursery? And they do well all summer. Have you ever uprooted a large annual geranium and taken a look at the size of the root system? It’s pretty minimal for the size of the plant.

A petunia seed fell in the crack of my block patio to the soil below. The blocks are 6″ deep! The next year, I had a plant a foot tall and a foot wide growing through that crack.

Some plants just want to survive and work hard to do so. To quote Jurassic Park ‘life finds a way’. There’s absolutely no reason you shouldn’t do wonderfully growing a flower pallet garden. As with any garden, start with great soil.

Holy Petunias, Amy!!! This unbelievable planter box was built from pallets by Amy over at HerToolBelt. I am SO impressed with how well they grew! Amy has instructions on her blog, how to build the box and keep the plants moist so they actually grow this well. I would follow them exactly 😀

For all you apartment-dwelling flower lovers, there’s hope! Vertical gardens are awesome for apartments. Space-saving, full of plants, and just lovely. My all-time favorite vertical pallet garden was created by Fern over at Life On The Balcony (sadly her site is gone)  Her use of color in this stunning little garden is fabulous. She really has an eye.

Above is a great example of all of the beautiful plants that go well in a pallet garden. I see lots of nasturtium and many different types of succulents. The pale green trailing plant in the middle looks like a licorice plant. (source unknown)

How to Make a Pallet Garden

Here’s a super quick video tutorial below on how to build a vertical pallet garden for herbs. Make sure to pack and water your plants in WELL before standing it up.

Below is another simple way to put together a vertical pallet garden. This time, you take slats from an extra pallet and screw it to the bottom of each ‘level’

Below are full instructions on how annual vertical pallet gardens are constructed at the nursery.

One last video. If you LOVE vertical gardening, this man is brilliant at it.

Alex from Flower Street Urban Gardens has devised a wonderful gardening system that you install right on walls, fences, windowsills, your balcony. If you have a sturdy structure to hold a wire frame, this space saver can grow some plants! It’s perfect for individuals that would rather not bend to work a garden.

Best Plants for a Pallet Garden

Pallet gardens are such great space savers, but they don’t provide much growing space. Shallow rooted plants grow best, so we’ll stick with the following.

• All succulents
• Most herbs like thyme, parsley, oregano, cilantro, chives, dill, mint, tarragon
• Salad greens like leaf lettuce, spinach, kale and arugula

Annual flowers are my absolute favorite for any garden so we won’t forget them here. Special consideration is to be made to find short-growing flowers that will fit in a vertical garden. The best annual flowers for a pallet garden are as follows:

• Alyssum
• Nasturtium
• Wave petunias (regular petunias grow strangely)
• Marigolds (look for dwarf varieties)
• Lobelia
• Verbena
• Ivy
• Begonias
• Impatiens (for shade)

Last but not least, have FUN with your plants. They provide endless possibilities to get creative and surround yourself with beauty. Hopefully, this post inspires a pallet design of your own!

The post 12 Beautiful Pallet Garden Ideas appeared first on Roots Nursery.

And you can GROW good garden soil. Thousands of tiny organisms are eating away at your soil every day… and pooping it out! You know the best organic fertilizer is, you got it…POOP. Cow poop, chicken poop, worm poop. Its in all the stores. Mico organism poop is just as good and its already IN your soil… but you can grow your microbe count and improve your garden soil by ridiculous amounts.

Plants have an immune system, just like people do. Good soil grows healthy plants with a strong immunity able to absorb nutrients and fend off disease and insects. Healthy plants thrive without chemical dependency. Chemicals are in fact detrimental to the long term health of your soil because they kill off the microbes.

Lets let a pro explain the soil biology (If youre interested in growing super healthy plants watch this! then watch it again in 6 months)

So, you got it? Bacteria and fungus. thousands of different types, all helping you grow bigger better plants. Aint nature grand?

How to Make Good Garden Soil. Starting from Scratch

How do I get beneficial microbes into my soil? That’s the best part, they’re already IN there. You just have to keep them happy and feed them well so they can multiply.

Fungus loves roots. roots love fungus (fungi to be correct). They feed each other and help one another grow. It’s the greatest love affair of all time. Let’s figure out how to fan the flames.

Humus + Bacteria and Fungi + Plants

Humus
It’s the perfect environment. Soil humus is created by the decomposition of organic matter. It’s light and fluffy and contains nutrients that feed both microbe and plant. Its the perfect environment for both to thrive.  Microbes will eat nutrients that are unavailable to the plant, break it down and actually feed it to the plant.

Adding organic matter to the soil each year helps the symbiosis GO. If you have space and materials to make your own compost, its so much fun and an ultra effective way to create soil your plants will love. I’d never leave my garden without it!

Wood Chips are also an excellent source of organic matter. I’ve added them as an ingredient in my compost. You’d be surprised how fast they break down when they’re mixed in. And always, every year, we lay on a super thick, 6″ layer of woodchips as mulch to help control weeds. It’s insanely effective. Where we live, wood chips are plentiful and FREE! If your town doesn’t deliver free wood chips, try out AboutTrees.com to help you find them. If they can’t help you, you can also call local tree services. I’ve even flagged down tree trimmers while they’re working in the neighborhood so they can deliver the chips immediately when they’re done with their job. You’d get a kick out of our reaction to the sound of a nearby chipper. Seriously, its like kids running for the ice cream truck.

Some people don’t like wood chips in the garden. Can you imagine? The woman working at the hardware store actually told me that ‘when the roots hit the woodchips or an air pocket in between, they die’. I nodded my head politely and went about my business. I’d rather pay attention to what’s working for people… Check out Garden Seeks blog post about using woodchips in the garden soil. The winner in this experiment was a 50% woodchip/garden soil mix.

This is already happening in my yard. Some of my soil is really compacted and it really helps to loosen it up. I’ll let you know about the results.

Bacteria and Fungi
They already live your the soil. Keep feeding them with organic matter. You can leave plant roots in the soil after every season to provide food and organic matter.

You can also ‘inoculate’ your soil, adding even more bacteria and fungi. I purchased a form of inoculant, the Jobes/Proven Winners brand just yesterday. It’s filled with bacteria and fungi (oh my). But if you’re really motivated you can make your own!

How to Make Your Own Inoculant
A lot of rave about the benefits of compost tea. Drenching the soil and sprinkling the leaves of their plants had brought them massive results. I always thought making compost tea seemed hard. Of course, I can’t judge because I’ve never tried it.

The Master Gardeners in Gwinnett County Georgia came up with this method. (the procedure is at the bottom of the page. It takes a whole summer, but seems easy and like a lot of fun. In short, you’ll grow an annual plant that is known to form mycorrhizae, in sand. The roots will entirely fill the pot of sand by the end of the summer. Cut off the plant and save the root filled sand in a cool dry place until next season. Now you have a homemade organic fertilizer to sprinkle on your plants or mix in with your garden or potting soil!

Plant Roots
Mychorriza (my-kor-eye-za) is the mutual relationship between roots and fungus. The ‘Rhizosphere’ is the 1-inch area immediately surrounding the plant’s roots where bacteria and fungus congregate and cycle nutrients. They feed off of the carbon content of plant roots then poop them out, at the root making these nutrients more available to the plant.

Farmers have begun to realize that no part of their land should be ever without some kind of plant. They grow cover crops in between rows or in rotation. Crops like vetch, ryegrass and soybeans are turned back into the soil. This adds organic matter (food for fungi) back to the soil, prevents compaction, helps retain moisture and grows great plants!

SO, there you have it. Nutrient-rich garden soil, able to grow healthy, disease resistant plants without tilling or chemicals and much much less prone to weeds.

The post Killer Garden Soil that Grows Plants Like Crazy appeared first on Roots Nursery.

Don’t ya just hate ’em??? Japanese Beetles have been a nuisance in America since 1916. Thought to be imported as grubs in a shipment of iris bulbs from Japan 5 to 6 years prior, it was soon realized that Japanese Beetles were a serious threat to agriculture in just one year of discovering the species.

In Japan, the beetle isn’t harmful. Its natural predators keep the population under control. But here in America, the invasion has spread to most states east of the Mississippi and the effects can be devastating.

That’s not hard to believe considering their mating cycle. It only takes two days for adult beetles to feed and mate before the female lays more eggs. She’ll lay up to 5 eggs and will repeat the cycle until up to 60 eggs are laid. for each female.

Though efforts to eradicate the species were given up in 1920, there are things you can do to keep things under control and save your plants!

Milky Spore.

For smaller lawns, the addition of milky spore will kill grubs. It takes a few years to incorporate into the lawn but it’s said to be very effective. That’s great for keeping the population down. If you can kill a bunch, go for it! but what about your neighbor’s lawn? What about forest areas close by? The beetles will travel to feed and you’ll still need to take other precautions.

Bag a Bug.

I don’t care what ANYONE SAYS about this product, it’s saved my plants for years. For $5 for each kit at the hardware store, assemble a plastic frame, lure, and bag trap, then hang them all over your yard. It’s extremely effective at catching beetles. Empty the bags often, dead bugs tend to smell. (my neighbor empties the bags in the fire pit as soon as they’re all dead, and hangs the bag back up)

The major complaint is that the bag a bug trap attracts more beetles to your yard. My rebuttal… ‘bring ’em on!’ Yes, it may attract even more beetles from other areas, but they go IN the bag. It’s a dream of mine to distribute 2 bags to every home in the neighborhood every year. Get ’em all until they’re eradicated!

Insecticide.

This year the beetles were so bad they outnumbered my bags, so I needed quick protection! There are a few insecticides that are effective at getting rid of beetles. Make sure the label clearly shows that it’s specifically for Japanese beetles, and to keep costs down, buy a concentrated liquid to mix with water in a spray bottle.

Non Attractive Plants.

If you just can’t bring yourself to kill bugs, or are hardcore organic, there’s still another choice. Ohio State University published a list of plants that Japanese Beetles don’t like to feed on. There are enough plants listed here to still have a beautiful garden, and not have a bug problem… doesn’t it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling?

ageratum, arborvitae, ash, baby’s breath, garden balsam, begonia, bleeding heart, boxwood, buttercups, caladium, carnations, Chinese lantern plant, cockscomb, columbine, coralbells, coralberry, coreopsis, cornflower, daisies, dogwood (flowering), dusty-miller, euonymus, false cypresses, firs, forget-me-not, forsythia, foxglove, hemlock, hollies, hydrangeas, junipers, kale (ornamental), lilacs, lilies, magnolias, maple (red or silver only), mulberry, nasturtium, oaks (red and white only), pines, poppies, snapdragon, snowberry, speedwell, sweet pea, sweet-William, tuliptree, violets, and pansy, or yews (Taxus).

Resources:
http://www.mosquito.rutgers.edu/jb.htm
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2001.html

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Great gardening starts with good soil right? and things grow differently in each type of soil.  Different types of soil include sand, clay and silt.  I tried the ‘jar test’ to determine what my garden soil is made of. It was easy and fun, a project your kids will love!

The Jar Test

I found this test in a few places each with different instructions, but the premise was the same. Find a mason jar. Add soil, water and dish soap. (The best combination for a large jar was 1 cup of soil, 1-2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of dish soap) Shake it up for a minute to break everything up, and then let it sit. The soil will settle into layers.

Set the jar where it wont be disturbed, and in 24 hours all the layers should have settled. The 1st layer on the bottom will be sand. The 2nd layer is silt and the 3rd layer is clay. Organic matter will float to the top of the water. (the more organic matter, the better).  If you have equal parts sand and silt with a thin layer of clay and some organic stuff floating on top, you have great soil! (40% sand, 40% silt, 20% clay).

Sandy soils drain too quickly, unable to retain moisture or nutrients to feed your plants. Amend sandy soils by adding 2 inches of organic matter (composted yard waste or manure) mixed in with the top 6 to 12 inches.

Clay soils dont drain well and drown your plants. Amend by adding an equal amount of sand and compost to create 2 inches mixed in with the top 6 to 12 inches. (dont forget the compost… clay plus sand equals cement!)

The Earthworm Test

Earthworms are a sign of great soil. They aerate the soil and help break down organic matter. Dig 1 square foot of your soil, down 6 inches. Sift through your soil and count the earthworms. 10 is the magic number. If you find 10 earthworms, your soil is doing fine. If you dont find many earthworms, add more organic matter.  One way to attract earthworms is by adding used coffee grounds to your compost bin. Worms love used coffee grounds, and the acid thought to be found in the grounds is removed during the brewing process… And since theyre made of paper, you can even add the filters!

The Ph Test

Want to save a trip and some cash from buying a soil test? Test the Ph level of  your soil with stuff you have at home. Grab a tablespoon, a glass of water, a paper towel, vinegar and banking soda and head out to the garden.

1. Add a few drops of vinegar to a spoonful of dry soil. Does it fizz? If it does, your soil is alkaline (over 7.5) Alkaline soils are amended by adding sulfur.
2. Clean the spoon off and grab another spoonful of soil. Add water and a pinch of baking soda. Does it fizz now? If it does, your soil is acidic (less than 5) Acidic soils are amended by adding lime.

One of the best ways to maintain great soil is to add 2-3 inches of compost on top of your garden as a mulch. It’s cheap, retains moisture, attracts earthworms and keeps plants fed. And when its time to work the soil, you’ll make it better every time.

The post Three Easy DIY Soil Tests appeared first on Roots Nursery.

right click to download.

Recommended for zone 5! If you life in a different zone, check out Johnnys Seed Chart
Add your frost free date for seed starting in YOUR zone

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Used Coffee Grounds are GREAT for your plants, don’t throw it away! Add it to your compost pile filter and all, or even sprinkle the grounds directly into the garden to help plants grow like crazy. Its loaded with nitrogen, with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 20:1, the same as manure. Not only does it smell delicious, your plants will love it.

Here are 5 ways to Use Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer

1. Add it to your compost bin. Coffee grounds make an excellent ‘green’ material (nitrogen). When you compost, you layer ‘green’ materials, like grass clippings, kitchen scraps and plant debris, with ‘brown’ matter (carbon) like leaves, bark, straw or newspaper. Combining the two helps the organic matter break down quicker and leaves you with a nutrient rich soil to add to your garden. “Black Gold!!!”

2. Use it straight in your garden as a mulch or soil conditioner. Coffee grounds will add nitrogen to the soil to feed the plants and adds acidity for bluer blooms on hydrangeas.  Coffee grounds will also attract worms. The more worms the better, as they are continuously composting and aerating the soil and feeding your plants with fresh nutrients.

3. Use it as worm bedding and feed. Worm castings are said to be the gardeners ultimate compost because they naturally contain so many of the minerals plants need. If you’re itching to try ‘vermicomposting’ give your worms a treat with used coffee grounds.

4. Make a compost tea. Stuff a sock full of used coffee grounds and steep it in a 5 gallon bucket of water  (or bigger)  for a few days. What comes out?… compost tea! Use the tea to water your plants for a nutritious boost.

5. Add it to your house plants. Our facebook fans report that sprinkling used coffee grounds in the soil around your house plants will make them grow like crazy!

Check out the results of compost created from only coffee grounds and shredded newspaper. The results are pretty cool

FEED YOUR SOIL!
You should always be feeding your soil to keep your plants healthy and growing. If you have a few more minutes and would like to learn exactly whats going on in your soil, heres the best video Ive seen about it! These people are growing gigantic vegetables with just great soil…

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Homemade Compost Bins

Big compost bins shown here are made of cinder blocks, hay, wooden pallets, timber, crates and fencing. If it will hold a pile, it will do the job. When planning a homemade compost bin, consider airflow, moisture retention and overall size (more on this later). If you turn the pile regularly, you can have finished compost pretty darn quick. A 2 bin system like this one holds a spot for finished compost.

I built this compost bin in 2010 out of very old boards hanging out here for years. I looked at the rotten wood and thought, “its going to hold garbage, why not use everything”. The fence was graciously donated by a neighbor. This wonderful bin turned out to be a community dump, for all my neighbors to drop off grass clippings and fall leaves.

If you dont need a ton of compost a small container can work, like this garbage can. Its easy to take care of, dump it out, mix it up then pile it back in. Unless you drill holes in the can, it wont drain or breathe well and can get downright stinky. Make sure to turn it often.


This one’s creative! A chicken wire hoop has great drainage and air flow. Being able to disassemble the hoop to turn the pile would be super helpful. Reassemble and scoop the compost back in.
Now that you have a few ideas about how to make a homemade compost bin, here’s a little science to keep in mind when building your own.

Compost Chemistry. The Science of Rotting Garbage.

Heat. The decomposition process generates heat through the microbial breakdown of materials. You might notice steam in the early morning or when you turn the pile. Heat is essential to ‘cook’ your compost pile. When your pile is cooking, you’ll know that its actively decomposing, killing pathogens and weed seeds.

Moisture. You may notice white powdery dry spots in your compost pile, and this is natural, but dry spots are not actively breaking down. The dry pile needs to be turned and watered if needed. Dont over water! A soupy mess wont break down either and may leach nutrients from the pile. ‘wrung out sponge’ is about right.

Oxygen. Microorganisms known for breaking down a compost pile need oxygen to breathe, therefore aeration is a necessity. Turning keeps the pile oxygenated and distributes moisture evenly.

Size. The size of the compost pile also helps the decomposition process. It should be large enough to retain moisture and generate heat and small enough to allow air flow. The recommended size is 3-5 feet wide and tall.

Whats that Smell?
I frequently encounter an ammonia smell which is most reminiscent of animal urine. This is caused by too much nitrogen. Mixing in more carbon rich ‘brown’ material will fix the problem fast. In the early summer when no leaves are available, shredded newspaper helps, so I use it a lot.

If the pile smells rotten, like sewage or rotten eggs, it’s caused by anaerobic activity. Turning the pile adds more oxygen and should relieve that rotten stench.

How often Should I Turn it?
Lots of different opinions on turning compost. Some research says that untouched compost still retains oxygen and heat levels adequately, doing away with the necessity to turn. While that might be true, I simply cant wait a year before my compost is ready. I’ve found that turning the pile breaks it down faster, and have read that, as a rule, every time you turn, it cuts composting time in half! But I hear you, turning large piles of compost is hard work so it’s easy to just let it sit. And that works, but a pile located in direct sun, turned daily, without the addition of new materials, can be broken down in 2-3 weeks. That’s more like it! and worth the effort. In the first few days, I turn with a pitch fork. After the grass clippings have decomposed past the bulky stage, my little Mantis Tiller works like a pro and makes the job a breeze!

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Sunflower Fort

watch the pre-K students do it!

Watching it grow is fun too!

how great! from pinterest

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Heres what my research found. If we pay attention to overnight temperatures, grow the right plants, and monitor temperatures in a cold frame, it seems doable… At least in March.

Winter Garden Vegetables Chart

Two more seed starting charts here

Keep your vegetables LONGER. Read about a double layer technique used by a professional winter grower.

The post Winter Garden: Cold Hardy Winter Vegetables appeared first on Roots Nursery.

Drill some holes in the cap, or remove cap.  Cut the bottle open leaving enough room for dirt.  Place the top back on and see if its the size you want it to be.  If not, cut away more plastic from the top portion.  Fill with dirt, seeds, or cuttings! I chose cuttings here.

A little water goes a long way here so don’t overwater!  Place the top back on, open the cap at least 2x a day to let out excess moisture.  After these plants take root, I will pot them up, and stick some new cuttings back in my new mini terrarium!

Another added convenience of this simple terrarium?  Keeps my cats from eating my plants!

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