6 Best Pallet Garden Beds For DIY Projects That You Can Build for Free
Build a garden for free with reclaimed pallets. Explore 6 creative DIY designs, from simple planters to large raised beds, suitable for any skill level.
You see them stacked behind grocery stores or piled up at a construction site: wooden pallets. Most people see scrap, but a savvy grower sees a free resource for building the garden. Using pallets is a fantastic way to get sturdy, functional raised beds without spending a dime on lumber.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Finding Safe Pallets: Look for the HT Stamp
Before you grab the first pallet you see, you have to talk about safety. Not all pallets are created equal, and some are treated with chemicals you absolutely do not want near your food. The key is to find the IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) logo, which is usually stamped or branded onto the side of the pallet.
Within that stamp, you’re looking for one specific code: HT. This stands for Heat Treated. It means the wood was heated to a high temperature to kill any pests, making it completely safe for garden use. Pallets marked with HT are your green light.
Conversely, if you see a stamp with MB, for Methyl Bromide, walk away. This is a toxic fumigant, and that wood has no place in your garden, ever. You might also see other codes like DB (Debarked) or KD (Kiln Dried), which are fine and often appear alongside the crucial HT stamp. Always inspect a pallet for spills, too; if it has oily or chemical-looking stains, leave it be, regardless of the stamp.
The Classic Stand-Up: Vertical Pallet Garden
This is the design most people picture when they think of a pallet garden. It’s simple, fast, and brilliant for maximizing growing space on a patio or small balcony. You simply stand a pallet on its long edge, staple landscape fabric to create pockets in the openings, and fill it with soil. It’s an instant vertical planter.
This setup is perfect for shallow-rooted plants. Think lettuces, spinach, most herbs, and even strawberries. They thrive in the small pockets and create a beautiful living wall. It’s an incredibly efficient use of square footage.
The main tradeoff here is water. Vertical gardens dry out fast, especially on hot, windy days. You’ll need to water it more frequently than a traditional bed. It’s also not suitable for anything that needs deep soil, like carrots or potatoes. But for a quick and easy herb or salad garden, it’s hard to beat.
The Half-Pallet Box: A Simple Raised Bed
Grow healthy vegetables with this durable, galvanized steel raised garden bed. Its oval design and open base promote drainage and root health, while the thick, corrosion-resistant metal ensures long-lasting stability.
If you need a basic raised bed in about 15 minutes, this is your project. A standard pallet has three support runners. With a reciprocating saw or handsaw, you can cut the pallet in half right down the middle of the central runner, giving you two identical sections.
Place these two sections on the ground, cut-sides facing each other, and you’ve formed a simple, low-profile box. Just screw the two halves together where they meet. You don’t even need to deconstruct anything. It’s a shallow bed, for sure, but it’s deep enough for a round of radishes, salad greens, or starting some onions.
This design is all about speed and simplicity. It gets you a functional, contained garden bed with minimal effort. Its obvious limitation is depth, so it won’t work for deep-rooted vegetables. But as a way to define a growing space and get a slight elevation from the ground, it’s an excellent, no-fuss solution.
The Double-Decker: Tiered Pallet Planter
The tiered planter takes a bit more cutting but gives you a more dynamic growing space. The idea is to cut a pallet into two or three sections of varying widths. You then stack the smaller section on top of the larger one to create a two-level planter.
This design is fantastic for creating a dedicated strawberry patch or a cascading herb garden. You can plant mint or oregano in the top tier and let them spill over, while growing basil or parsley in the more spacious bottom tier. The separation helps keep aggressive growers contained.
Building this requires more precise cuts than the simple half-box, and you’ll need to secure the tiers together with screws for stability. The benefit is a visually interesting planter that offers different soil depths and sun exposures in one compact unit. It’s a great project for turning a single pallet into a multi-purpose garden feature.
The Collar Bed: A Sturdy, Stackable Design
For a truly robust and deep bed, the pallet collar design is the way to go. This involves prying the deck boards off a pallet and using them to construct simple, four-sided frames. These frames, or "collars," have no top or bottom—they are just sturdy wooden rectangles.
The magic of this design is its stackability. Place one collar on the ground, and you have a bed about six inches deep. Need more depth for your carrots or potatoes? Just build another collar and stack it right on top. This allows you to create a deep, strong raised bed without the expense of thick lumber.
This method requires the most deconstruction work up front. Pulling nails from old pallet wood can be a real chore. However, the payoff is a highly durable, customizable, and long-lasting bed. It’s the best free-lumber option for serious root vegetable cultivation.
The A-Frame: Ideal for Vining Vegetables
The A-frame is a clever design that turns two pallets into a productive, self-supporting trellis. You simply stand two pallets up and connect them at the top with heavy-duty hinges or a simple wooden brace. The result is a stable A-frame structure you can plant in and on.
Secure your gates and doors with these durable, heavy-duty hinges. Featuring offset screw holes for added strength and a bearing design for smooth, 270° rotation, this 4-pack includes mounting screws for easy installation.
This is the ultimate setup for vining plants. You can plant cucumbers, peas, pole beans, or even small melons like cantaloupe at the base. As they grow, they will naturally climb the pallet slats, which act as a perfect, built-in trellis. This maximizes sun exposure, improves air circulation to reduce disease, and keeps your fruit off the ground.
You can also use the interior pockets of the A-frame for shade-tolerant, shallow-rooted plants like lettuce or spinach, which benefit from the shadow cast by the vining crop. It’s a two-for-one system that makes incredibly efficient use of a small footprint. The only real work is securely hinging the two pallets together so they can withstand wind and the weight of mature plants.
The Deconstructed Box: A Traditional Bed
If none of the other designs fit your vision, you can always go for the most traditional approach: a fully deconstructed bed. This means taking one or more pallets completely apart, salvaging all the deck boards and stringers, and using that lumber to build a custom raised bed from scratch.
This method gives you total creative freedom. You can build a bed of any length, width, or height your salvaged lumber allows. It’s the perfect solution when you have a specific space to fill or need a non-standard shape. You are essentially treating the pallet as a free source of raw building material.
The major tradeoff is labor. Deconstructing a pallet without splitting the boards takes patience and the right tools—a pry bar and a hammer are essential. But if you’re willing to put in the work, you can build a garden bed that is just as good as one made from store-bought lumber, for absolutely free.
Lining Your Bed: Burlap vs. Landscaping Fabric
Once you’ve built your bed, you need to decide whether to line it. Lining helps hold the soil in place, especially in designs with large gaps like the vertical garden. Your two main choices are burlap and landscaping fabric, and each has its place.
Burlap is a fantastic natural option. It’s made from jute, so it’s biodegradable and will eventually break down into the soil. It offers excellent drainage and aeration. The downside is that it doesn’t last long—you might get one or two seasons out of it before it rots away, making it best for temporary setups or annual plantings.
Landscaping fabric, on the other hand, is synthetic and extremely durable. It will last for many years, effectively suppresses weeds, and still allows water to drain through. However, it is a plastic product, and it won’t add any organic matter to your garden.
- Use burlap for vertical gardens or simple boxes where you plan to refresh the soil and setup each year.
- Use landscaping fabric for more permanent, multi-season beds like the collar or deconstructed box designs where you want long-term weed control.
Pallets are a testament to the resourcefulness at the heart of hobby farming. By choosing the right pallet and the right design for your needs, you can build a productive and beautiful garden for nothing more than a little bit of your time. So keep an eye out, build smart, and get growing.
