Raised beds are so popular for a reason: you can even grow vegetables and herbs in this bed on the terrace or balcony. If you place it in the garden, you no longer have to bend over when caring for plants. The plants in the raised bed are spared from slugs and other uninvited guests, meaning higher harvest yields can be expected.
How can I create a raised bed from Euro pallets?
You can build a raised bed out of Euro pallets by connecting 7 pallets (80×120 cm), laying the bottom with rabbit wire and lining the inner walls with pond liner. Fill the bed with layers of substrate and use the outer niches for herbs or salads.
Preparations:
- Choose a location that is as bright, flat and sunny as possible.
- The underside of the bed must be lined with close-meshed rabbit wire to protect against voles and ingrowing weeds.
- To prevent the side walls from rotting, they are lined with thick pond liner.
Raised bed made of pallets
You can get used transport pallets via regional classified ads or on the Internet. Alternatively, many hardware stores carry furniture pallets for relatively little money.
Material list for a 2.40 meter long and 1.40 meter wide bed:
- 1.5 x 2.5 meters of fine mesh rabbit wire
- 7 pallets measuring 80 x 120 cm
- 40 wood screws (€12.00 at Amazon) 6 x 120 mm
- 7, 5 x 1 meter pond liner, at least 0.5 millimeters thick
Tool list:
- Cordless screwdriver
- 6 and 12 millimeter drill bits
- Tacker
- Cowfoot
Construction instructions
- Assemble 6 pallets: 2 pallets form the long edge, 1 pallet forms the shorter side of the rectangle. The undersides of the pallets face outwards.
- First put three pallets together in a U shape. Screw the individual slats together with two screws.
- Align the two parts so that they do not wobble. To do this, it may be necessary to fill or remove some of the subsurface.
- Connect the parts placed together on the slats. It is recommended to pre-drill the holes and also use the 12 mm drill to drill them a third so that the heads of the screws sink in.
- Remove the slats with the wooden block underneath from the last pallet with the cow foot and reinforce the two U-parts with these. Attach a batten to each of the top and bottom edges.
Then staple the rabbit wire to the bottom of the raised bed. The inner walls are lined with the pond liner. This must protrude at least ten centimeters at the top edge. Please do not fix it yet so that the film has some play when the bed is finally filled.
Only when you fill in the last layer of substrate is the edge of the film folded over and stapled to the pallet frame.
Tip
Short sections of a halved rain gutter fit into the outer niches of the pallet raised bed. Herbs and salads feel particularly at home here.