Kitchen Herb-Garden Shelving Unit

Step 7 Mount the Drainage Tubes

Cut two pieces of PVC conduit for the drainage. The length depends on how you want to mount the shelves on the wall.

I started with the bottom shelf 45" off the ground (to keep my cats from being able to easily leap onto it) and put the next shelf 20" above it. For that setup, I cut one piece of PVC pipe to 19" and the other to about 37". The idea is that the top shelf will drain directly onto the bottom shelf, and the bottom shelf drains into some kind of container you put on the floor. So you want the pipe slightly shorter than the distance down to the shelf or floor, but not by a ton.

OK, pipes cut? Now, use a jigsaw or hand saw or whatever you've got to cut curves out of the back corner of each shelf that fit the pipe as close as possible -- the more surface area in contact, the stronger the bond when you glue them.

Smear the pipe and wood with hot glue and quickly press them together and hold for a minute or so, then gently wrap a strip of duct tape around the outside to help hold them on. This will never be a very strong bond, but just treat it gingerly from now on and never pull on the PVC pipe once you're done and it's all mounted on the wall, and it should be fine.