Last week, I created a plant and tool tidy from a palette. I am not a great carpenter and because I have arthritis, can’t do heavy sawing or nailing. This is very simple to do and I used whatever stuff I had at home, being a believer in re-use and of course, being canny. All you need a good quality palette, some pin nails or a stapler, a hammer and plastic containers and trays that you get from supermarkets and takeaways. If you can’t find a good quality palette (those are not easy to find, just use what you have)
1. First I nailed the trays and containers on the central timber stringer. This can be a bit tricky because even though I have small fingers and used a small hammer, it is not easy to nail in the corners or the inner sides. However the timber is soft and the pins go in quickly. I used pin nails as they are small. You can try a stapler gun on the outsides if you wish but this is simpler.
2. Then I screwed in a hook to bottom of each of the top stringers to hold a variety of garden tools. I now turned the palette the right way up and put in the plants and the tools- Voilà it is ready!
Because I used the supermarket trays, they also fit the pot sizes.
You can personalise this- perhaps write labels on the timber near the plants, perhaps have more hooks to hang things from or even paint it. You can see I have a micro greenhouse for the ginger plant I am growing and you can add your own things as you need them. In the winter, I intend to make a plastic cover for it and it will become my herb green house. Perfect for small patios and balconies.
The Canny Gardener 