Fitting in a Little Garden[ing]

Our process of constructing a vertical pallet garden.

As you know, we here at Greensburg GreenTown have been busy taking care of our backyard vegetable and flower garden that the Girl Scouts helped us plant back in April.  We have plenty of space for our garden to spread and grow, but what if you want a garden and do not have the space?  We found a fun project from the website Design Sponge that lets you grow a garden even if you don't have a huge yard.  By reusing an old pallet you can create a vertical garden that fits in a relatively small area.  Though we do not have to worry about lack of space here, we decided to try it out because we have several old pallets lying around and this is a great way to reuse one.

To begin, we selected a sturdy wooden pallet to use as our frame for the garden.  We then took some black landscaping fabric and stapled it to the back and sides of the pallet.  It is important to make sure the landscaping fabric is securely fastened to keep the soil from falling out of the pallet's wood slats.  Next, we moved the pallet outside and filled it with soil.  We used a mix of the soil from Greensburg and potting soil.  We then took sedum plants and transplanted them into the gaps between the pallet's slats.  Once all of the plants were in we gave it a good watering and left the pallet horizontal on the ground for two weeks to let the roots establish themselves.  Finally, we lifted up the pallet and leaned it against the Silo Eco-Home, adding a little vertical green to the side of the building.

If you would like more detailed instructions, check out the article we followed: DIY Project: Recycled Pallet Vertical Garden

Or, look at this infographic put together by Bridgman.