Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Not pallet wood, but the best tomato support I've ever used in almost 60 years of gardening was created from a cattle panel:

Thanks. Love those pictures...

Yeah, I have seen those cattle panel trellis systems before and I know the people who have them like the cattle panel trellis method. That is one option I have considered if I don't find a design that I can do with pallet wood.

A few questions.

1) Do you have to tie off the tomato plants to the cattle fence when they get that high, or does the plant somehow wrap itself in and between the cattle panel by itself?

2) Do you plant anything in the unused middle of the tomato bed for an early harvest, like lettuce, kale, radishes, etc...

Not everything I do has to be pallet wood, either. I am plenty happy just to have built my raised bed out of pallet/salvaged wood and anything after that is a bonus. I made a trellis out of salvaged wood and leftover 2X4 wire fencing last year for Dear Wife's bitter melons. That worked out great for us...

Early summer...

Late summer ready for harvest...

I have considered just building another one of those trellis systems this year for cucumbers. I have more of that 2X4 wire fencing behind a shed. I think that would work out fine for cucumbers. But after thinking about the cattle panel trellis in your picture, I wonder if I could use this same trellis for tomato plants?

 

[fuzzi]

Thanks. Love those pictures...

Yeah, I have seen those cattle panel trellis systems before and I know the people who have them like the cattle panel trellis method. That is one option I have considered if I don't find a design that I can do with pallet wood.

A few questions.

1) Do you have to tie off the tomato plants to the cattle fence when they get that high, or does the plant somehow wrap itself in and between the cattle panel by itself?

2) Do you plant anything in the unused middle of the tomato bed for an early harvest, like lettuce, kale, radishes, etc...

Gardener Scott demonstrated how to tie a string around the base of the plant, tie the other end to the top of the trellis, leaving some slack. As the tomato plant grows you wrap the main stem around the string, helping it climb. However, once my plants started filling out they didn't seem to need any tying.

I did plant borage between the tomatoes, but it didn't do well, it got too much shade. However the basil did fine as it was close to the edge of the bed. Lettuce might do well.

 

[gtaus]

Gardener Scott demonstrated how to tie a string around the base of the plant, tie the other end to the top of the trellis, leaving some slack. As the tomato plant grows you wrap the main stem around the string, helping it climb. However, once my plants started filling out they didn't seem to need any tying.

I will certainly check out that Gardener Scott video link. He is one of the channels I watch a lot.

I did plant borage between the tomatoes, but it didn't do well, it got too much shade. However the basil did fine as it was close to the edge of the bed. Lettuce might do well.

Yeah, I would think it would have to be a very early harvest crop in the middle, or something that does well in the shade when the tomato plants get tall. I would certainly try something because I hate to waste space in any of the raised beds.

 

[avjudge]

Days ago I said I’d get some pictures of the dollies I made for my feed storage galvanized barrels. Of course I only thought about it when I was in the house, not the barn — until today. I’m not sure if the dollies are still on sale, but if not they will be again so I’ll go ahead and post!

I just cut one side and inserted appropriate-length scrap wood, in this case to make it square.

Then on top I put in some blocks and a bottom support.

I made another long one to hold two barrels.

 

[gtaus]

Days ago I said I’d get some pictures of the dollies I made for my feed storage galvanized barrels. Of course I only thought about it when I was in the house, not the barn — until today. I’m not sure if the dollies are still on sale, but if not they will be again so I’ll go ahead and post!

I loved that idea so much that I stole it for making some plastic rectangular trash cans into temporary pallet wood storage bins. I use one dolly per trash can storage bin because I wanted to be able to move the bins individually. I have 3 of those trash cans filled with pallet wood at the moment in my garage.

Last year I made a pallet wood storage bin out of pallet wood and used dolly wheels for the bottom. It works well. It holds a lot of pallet wood, but it's also about 4 feet long. When I move that storage cart about in the garage, I need quite a bit of room to maneuver it. I am thinking about replacing that 4-foot-long cart with the individual trash bin storage with dolly setup.

My 4-foot-long pallet wood storage cart built back in 2022...

Here is a picture of my recent individual dolly underneath a plastic rectangular trash can used as pallet wood storage bin based on your genius idea of a dolly under your feed bins...

Those plastic trash cans with a dolly underneath have turned out to be a better option for me. I was concerned that they might get tippy when full, but, so far, none of the trash cans have tipped over and really seem to be grounded well. And, so easy to move around in the limited space I have in my garage. I am pretty sure my larger pallet wood storage cart will be moved to another location/garage/shed this summer.

For anyone interested in buying a dolly, I get mine from Harbor Freight. Regular price is $12.99, but they often go on sale for about $10.00. Recently HF had a Parking Lot sale and they were on sale for $8.00, which was the lowest price I had seen in years. At any rate, the HF dolly at regular price is still less expensive than the other stores in my town.

I have used these dollies mainly for their wheels, which I take off and put on the bottom of my work benches and carts. Those wheels, if purchased separately, cost about $8.50 per wheel. Obviously, it was much cheaper for me to buy a 4-wheeled dolly for $10.00 and use the dolly wheels for my other projects.

Current 3-inch wheel at HF rated for 300 lbs. A bit stronger than my dolly wheels rated at 250 lbs. working load. But it's the closest I could find to the dolly wheel specs.

 

[avjudge]

. . . Those wheels, if purchased separately, cost about $8.50 per wheel. Obviously, it was much cheaper for me to buy a 4-wheeled dolly for $10.00 . . .

I found the same thing when I was setting up my feed barrels several years ago – I made one dolly using some salvaged casters, but that used up my supply. When I started shopping for more, I could not believe how much cheaper it was to buy them already part of a dolly!

 

[gtaus]

I posted this update to the Huglekulture Raised Beds thread but it fits here as well...

*****

I just finished building my fourth pallet wood raised bed v2.0 in the garage this winter! Here is a picture of one of them standing upright to take up less space in the garage (all the pallet wood raised beds look pretty much the same)....

Those pallet wood raised beds are basically 4X4 foot and 16 inches high. That makes good use of the pallet material I take apart and rebuild into these beds.

It is still winter where I live, with more snow in the forecast for tomorrow, but the days are getting longer, and warmer, and it will not be long before I will be setting up those 4 new hügelkultur raised beds out in the backyard. I am looking forward to that.

I stated my goal this year was to build four new raised beds, with the expectations that I would probably only get maybe two new beds built. If I get half-done of what I want, that is usually pretty good for me. But I surprised myself and completed all four new raised beds long before springtime planting!

*****

I think I will be moving on to a different build. In my backyard, I have the 4X4 raised garden beds spread out about 5 feet from each other. The idea was that I could run my 48 inch deck riding mower between the garden beds to mow the grass. And, that works out OK. But I still have to come back later with a grass trimmer to cut down the grass that grows up alongside the wood beds.

Here is a picture of my backyard garden next to the chicken coop and run. The 4X4 beds are spaced out 5 feet apart in this picture. Given the distance of this camera shot, you might not see that there are 5 feet between the beds, but that's the spacing.

That picture from last fall, of course, does not include the four new 4X4 foot pallet wood raised beds v2.0 that I just finished building this winter.

So, I am thinking about making some 2X4 foot pallet wood raised beds to put between the 4X4 raised beds this year. I can still mow between the beds with a push mower, or just use the grass trimmer for everything. Another option I have considered is dropping some weed fabric down on the ground and covering it with free wood chips from the local county landfill. Then I would not have to mow the grass at all. Not sure what I will do in that regards.

For those who might be new to my setup, I have been moving my gardening to my backyard next to the chicken coop and run. I converted my chicken run into a chicken run composting system and use that compost in those raised beds. When I pick out weeds from the garden, I toss them into the chicken run. Any produce that is not kitchen table approved by Dear Wife also gets tossed into the chicken run for the chickens to eat. The chickens love to see me working in the garden because most times they know they will be getting something good to eat. It really is nice to have the garden alongside the chicken coop and run. Many, many benefits.

 

[chickengr]

I believe I understand that. I am guessing that your tomato plants are lined up in a row? In my case, I would have 9 tomato plants in a 4X4 foot raised bed. I am not sure I would be able to tie off the tomatoes in that setup.



It must depend on the variety of bush-type tomato plants you have. My determinate tomatoes got very heavy and would have fallen over if I did not have them supported by a cage.

Well, I should qualify that when I grew determinant tomatoes in my poor lakeside in-ground soil, I was lucky if the plants ever got 2 feet high and had very much fruit. But now I am making raised beds out of pallet wood, filling them with hügelkultur wood in the bottom, and topping them off with a high-quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. My determinant tomatoes last year got about 4 feet high and had lots of heavy fruit on them. They needed a support cage to keep them from falling over. But, even my wire tomato cages were not heavy enough last year, which is why I have looking into building new cages out of wood for this year.

my determinate tomatoes were in a very hot point so less than 4 ft.

 

[chickengr]

Yesterday morning, I broke down four new pallets I picked up about a week or so ago. They were in pretty good shape and looked fairly new. Looked like they were built by the same company at the same time. I used the circular saw method to cut off the planks. I will later cut the plank pieces down to 16 inches long for some pallet wood raised bed builds.

Later in the afternoon yesterday, I was de-nailing the 2X4 stretches with those bits and pieces of wood left on the 2X4 after you cut off the planks. I got the wood bits off easily enough, but boy, did I have a heck of a time pulling out those nails. I assumed it must be some super strong nails, but I am reconsidering that whole idea. More on that later. For now, let me tell you the hoops I had to jump through to take out the nails from the 2X4 stretchers in that batch.

After I removed all the bits of wood on the 2X4 stretcher, leaving only the tops of the nails, my go to tool is usually my long crowbar...

View attachment 3772195

It has lots of leverage and usually pulls out nails without any problems.

For some reason, the nails in these few pallets refused to come out. I was snapping off the nail heads left and right, making the crowbar useless.

When it comes to removing headless nails, my go to tool is the Crescent Code Red 11-inch pliers...

View attachment 3772202

I love those pliers for removing headless nail. Works great just about every time. However, last night, with the 2X4's and nails I was working with, I was busting my gut trying to pull out those nails. I was thinking those are some really strong nails used in those pallets.

BTW, I had the 2X4 clamped down solid into my new Vevor 6-1/2 Bench vise I mentioned weeks ago. Love that vise...

View attachment 3772208

I had mounted that bench vise to my biggest, heaviest, bench in the garage. But I am telling you that when I was I was trying to remove the nails, the whole bench was moving! Those nails would not give up.

Not to be defeated, I took out my Harbor Freight Doyle 14-inch Heavy Duty End Nipper. That has a bit more leverage than the 11-inch code red pliers and works good with headless nail removal, too...

View attachment 3772212

It still took some effort, but I was able to throw my weight behind the nippers and the nails started coming out. I used those nippers more last night than the previous 6 months I have had them. But it turned out to be my best tool for that job last night. In fact, it was the only tool that I had that allowed me to pull out those nails.

So, it only took me 2 hours to complete a 30-minute job.

The saga continued today. I mentioned that I had assumed the pallet nails were super strong and that is why I was having such a hard time removing them.

I think I was completely wrong. Now I am thinking the nails were standard pallet nails, but the wood used in those pallets must be some super hard wood. My first clue was when I tried to drill a pilot hole into one the 2X4's for my screws this afternoon, the bit would not penetrate into the wood and just spun on top till the wood started smoking. OK, I'm still thinking my bit was maybe dull. So, I tried a different bit with the same result. That second bit was from a completely new pack, so no way could it be a dull bit already.

I had to take out my most expensive tapered countersink bit set and still it was tough drilling into that wood. But I got the holes drilled over time.

Next, I tried drilling my drywall screws into that wood and just about every screw head broke off! So, now I am looking at having to buy the much more expensive, stronger, T25 deck screws to screw into those 2X4's. Maybe I'll go into town this weekend and pick up the size I need. Because of the expense of T25 deck screws, I only buy them for special needs when I need them.

Or, maybe I'll just set all that new wood to the side and find some regular, softer, pallet wood for my raised bed build. I have had no problems with other pallet wood I have used, only with this current batch.

Of all the many pallets I have broken down and rebuilt into something else, I have never had these problems before. I am convinced it must be some really strong wood that I have not worked with before.

Long story short, I have spent maybe 3 hours into my new raised bed build with this super strong wood to get maybe 5 minutes of work done. Yeah, I think I'll have to put that new wood aside and use some other pallet wood 2X4's instead. With normal pallet wood, I would have completed both the raised beds by now.

Well, live and learn. I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. Maybe? Not quite sure what I learned...

I had the same problem with some old (too dry) pallets. I wonder if we wet them first should they be easier to work with?

 

[gtaus]

I had the same problem with some old (too dry) pallets. I wonder if we wet them first should they be easier to work with?

I don't know if nails are harder to remove from a dry pallet compared to a "wet" pallet. I think the issue I ran into was the hardness of the wood species I was working with at the time. Maybe someone else knows if dryness affects the difficulty of removing nails from the wood?