OK…you know that saying about the best laid plans? Yeah…this spring and summer have taught me a few valuable lessons about the my plans, vs. the gardens plans vs. the weathers plans. The perfect example of this is our pallet beds and their lack of growth this year.
I know I have talked about the pallet beds a few times over the past few months, and while my intentions have been good, the follow through has been less than ideal.
While we put our pallet beds together in March, it has taken months of planning and trying and failing and trying again to get anything to actually grow in said beds. Why? I blame the wind. Truly and honestly.
Let me explain…When we first put the beds together, we simply used potting soil to fill them. This was a bad idea since the wind that whips around the back of our house steadily removed most of the soil in the beds since it didn’t have anything to hold on to. So, I added some more soil and put a few seeds in the pockets in the hope that they would germinate and grab onto the soil.
Nope, the wind was too fast and watering with the hose was too harsh.
Then, I decided to add some straw to the soil and map out where everything would be planted. I started some seeds in my little seed pods thinking that I could place the seeds pods into the soil and therefore provide some more support for my little seeds while they germinated. Good idea, right? Yes…except that I planted a ton of seeds into their own little individual pods, left them outside on my potting table to germinate and watered them twice a day. This worked great for a few days before the wind picked up one day while I was at work and sent all of my pods flying. Seeds and dirt everywhere.
So, I replanted more seed pods and placed them on the ground, tucked into a corner where the wind couldn’t pick them up. It worked! Until one of the neighborhood cats decided to jump into our yard and play soccer with them all. Ugh!
Around this time, we decided to finally invest in a drip system for the front and back yards. As part of the drip process, Tool Lady laid a few lines across the red pallet bed where I had stuck a few nasturtium seeds and a couple of cucumbers and another line along the top of the yellow pallet bed where a few lemon cucumbers had been transplanted. We quickly noticed that the drip on the yellow bed was dripping down into the subsequent layers below so I stuck a few seeds where the water was dripping and crossed my fingers!
Here’s what we have so far…a few cukes along the top that are learning how to hold on to the wire mesh trellises we built, some bush beans, a few nasturtiums, some chard and a little spinach. Lots of empty space, especially since we haven’t done anything with the blue bed, but some hope (and growth), at last!
- Drip is much better for pallet beds than watering with the hose
- You must add some straw (or other organic material) to your potting soil so as to allow said potting soil to have something to hold onto until the roots take hold
- When planting seeds in seed pods, ensure they are secure against wind storms and roving cats
- Because the depth of the soil is not great, the sun is hot and the wind is wicked, the beds dry out remarkably fast here
- Start my seeds inside in pods and then transplant them out as soon as they’re big and strong enough
- Continue to add more soil and straw as necessary to ensure a nice cozy space for my transplants to live
- Ensure the drip can reach all of my little seedlings
I too have been really interested in this, I have a spare pallet but so far haven’t been motivated enough to plant it up, the drip system info is particularly good to know. I light of what you’ve written think I will plant with strawberries as they have pretty solid root systems so should help hold everything in place.
Yes! I think strawberries would do well in a pallet bad! They are on my list to add in…especially since our strawberries are running everywhere right now!
That is really interesting! I’ve never seen this before, but I’m going to look into it.
Thank you for all the great tips.
Of course! They are full of potential, no doubt! Just gotta work out a few kinks first! 😉
Wow, thank you so much for that update and cautionary tale! I have been planning on building a few of those to maximize what little “sun-intensive” real estate we have here, and I am especially happy to see that (at least at this point!) you are successfully growing cucurbits in them. I’m planning on putting winter squash and melons in the ones I’ll build (long story!), so now I have a much better idea of what to expect and how to proceed. Please keep us posted about how those plants do.
I’m glad this is helpful! It’s been quite a trip, but one I’m glad we’re taking! I am very excited about the potential of these beds and am excited for next year when I can actually implement some of our lessons 😉 Of course, I’ll continue to share! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!