by Melody on April 28,2014

Finally, I get to write again! Easter weekend was hectic but very enjoyable – hope yours was enjoyable also.

I got started on my pallet project for my daughter's wedding next month. There are many great pictures of pallet planting ideas on Pinterest, but if you look you will notice that a lot of those planters make "pockets" in the pallet – mine is a bit different. What I envision is a wall of color that, when stood up on end, will be a gorgeous backdrop for my daughter and her husband. I luckily found a "weird" sized pallet; long and narrow instead of the usual square. I actually had no plans to do a pallet planter until I saw this pallet and thought "Hmmm, what could I do with that?"

The first step towards my goal was painting the pallet. I only painted the areas that may be visible after planting; namely the sides and front. I chose a bright periwinkle blue to compliment the flowers I intend to use.



The second step was to cover the back with a barrier (I used a heavy duty weed cloth) to hold the soil in place. I stapled one side down first then pulled it as tight as I could and stapled the other side, and then finished off the ends – again pulling tight and stapling as I went. Tomorrow evening (when I buy more staples) I will reinforce all of the edges. Then the pallet will be ready for the next two steps. First I will pack the pallet very firmly with soil; the soil has been pre-moistened so it will pack in tight. Lastly I will add the plants.





I am going to put a lot of plants in this pallet for two reasons. First, I really want a solid mat of color and second, because I want there to be a lot of roots in there so that the soil will not slide, shift, or settle when the pallet is stood up vertically; roots will hold the soil in place. The pallet will lie on the ground for the initial couple of weeks while the plants get rooted in and then I will gradually start to move it upward so the foliage will drape gracefully down. After that point I will only have to lay it back down to water it – which may be super often given the amount of plant material I'm cramming in there!

I am hoping that after the wedding is over I will be able to use the pallet planter in my flowerbed. I will spade up the ground beneath its final destination, cut some slits in the weed cloth backing so the plants can send roots into the ground, and be able to enjoy that color for the rest of the summer.

I will post pictures of the third and fourth steps of my planter as I go and, very hopefully, I will be able to show you a beautiful finished project.

Upcoming this week (fingers crossed) I am going to start my chain-link fence camouflage project. I bought all my supplies and am ready to go. Several days of rain in store (which we need) but hopefully I'll be able to get one clear day for the painting portion of my project.


Before picture of my very horrible, future (beautiful) garden

I wanted to share a picture with you. There are so many great new petunias out on the market this year but one that really caught my eye is Flash Mob Bluerific – this petunia just glows! I think that in the early evening dusky part of the day this petunia would simply shine – so if you have a patio area that you enjoy in that time of the day this would be a plant worth considering.