Make A Garden Planter From Decking

Step 6: The Final Steps

Now we've got the wooden construction finished we need to drill drainage holes, line the inside and fill it with compost.

O. Drill some holes in the base of the planter. You want to hold some water, but it needs to be able to drain away as well - worst case scenario your vegetables could rot.

P. The damaged compost bags we bought came repackaged in larger sacks (Image 2).

Q. We slit the sides and stapled the plastic to the inside of the planter. Roll the top of the plastic over and staple it about 2cm below the top of the planter. Take extra care around the legs.

R. Place broken pots or large stone in the base for drainage (see Image 4).

S. And now for a bit of maths to find the volume of the planter, and therefore how much compost we need... We can find the volume (v) by multiplying the length (l), the width (w) and the height (h).

lwh = v

 

So, in centimetres:

 

(140 x 63) x 42 = 370440

 

1000cm³ is equivalent to 1 litre in volume.

So 370440cm³ is equivalent to approximately 370.5 litres.

Our bags hold 75 litres, so we needed five to fill the planter.

T. And that's all folks! It's ready for planting... We started some carrots on the window sill this week as it's still a little bit cold to plant them outside straight away (May in the UK is a bi hit and miss). We'll transfer them in a few weeks when they are more established.

U. Have a look at the next step for some more planter ideas...