Perfect for an herb garden outside the kitchen door. Build two or more and make a living fence. Plants grow on both sides, so you can have a full sun side and a partial sun side for more delicate plants.

Step 1: Get Your Pallet

This wonderful item can't be used as a pallet anymore, but the weathered and distressed look gives it a bit of character. Although old is attractive, be careful not to use a pallet with too much decayed wood since the nails or screws won't hold.

This particular pallet has 6 slats on the top and 3 on the bottom. In this example, we will add 3 slats to the backside to match the 6 on the front side. This will make a total of 12 planters.

TIP: The openings between the 6 slats are fairly narrow, so you can remove one or two slats if you plan on using bigger plants or need more room. 5 parallel slats will result in 10 planters, 4 slats will result in 8 planters, etc.

Step 2: Items You'll Need

1" x 6" x 8' (to add slats to the bottom, if you plan on matching both sides).
4' length of 1/4" wire mesh
4' length of weed block
48 1/2" screws
48 3/16" fender washers
Wire snips, drill, hammer and gloves
Shovel and hand trowel
2 to 4 steel stakes, rebar or metal garden posts

Step 3: Add Matching Slats

Turn the pallet over and remove the middle slat.

Re-position the slat and reattach so it is even with one of the slats on the other side

Cut the 1"x6" and attach it to match the slats on the other side

TIP: You can also take one-or-more of the slats from one side and reattach them to the opposite side to make the opening for plants bigger (instead of 6 slats on one side, you could have 5 or 4).

Step 4: Cut and Attach Wire Mesh

Turn the pallet on its head and cut the wire mesh to cover one half of the opening.

Attach screws and washers to hold the wire to the pallet. I originally used nail brads, but they could not hold up against the weight of the soil and water. (Perhaps with a newer pallet nail brads would be more secure.)

Important: Trim the wire mesh to reduce the potential of scraping arms in the future.

Step 5: Cut and Insert Weed Block

Turn the pallet so the wire mesh is on the bottom of each pair of slats.

Cut the weed block so it will cover the wire mesh

Simply lay the weed block down on the mesh before covering it with soil later on

Step 6: Position and Stabalize

Place the vertical pallet in the desired position and anchor it with steel forming stakes.

In this example, a forming stake secures one end of the pallet while the other end is attached to an existing fence.

Metal rebar or metal garden posts can also be used.

TIP: If you do not have an existing structure to attach the vertical garden to, then build two vertical pallet gardens and connect them perpendicular to each other.

Step 7: Add Potting Soil and Plants

Add potting soil to each compartment, taking care to make sure the weed block covers the wire mesh at the bottom.

TIP: To add soil between the small openings, use one large shovel as a platform to slide the soil into the compartments. Rest the shovel on the top slat and pour soil on it. You may have to jiggle the shovel to get the soil to slide down into the compartments.