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Difficulty: Intermediate
A vertical garden can provide greenery and colour to enliven a drab location and provide plenty of growing space in even very small areas.
Customisable to suit your own garden, this vertical garden can be combined with our raised garden bed made from recycled pallets.
Inspiration for this creation comes from the extremely popular Vertical garden with built-in watering system by experienced Bunnings Workshop member @kel. Thanks again for sharing your wonderful project with us.
Steps
Step 1
Start by cutting three lengths of the 90 x 45mm timber at the height you wish you top box to be. Ours were cut 2 meters long to locate the top box just above head height. These will become the vertical posts and they are fixed to the base with three coach screws for each post.
Pre-drill 6mm holes in the posts allowing the coach screws to be positioned at the top, middle and bottom of the garden bed. Ours are at 10cm, 25cm and 40cm above the ground.
Fix the posts to the base with one at each end and one in the middle at 116cm. Make sure they are evenly spaced and that the screws are fixed through the post and into the frame of the garden planter.
Step 2
Clamp a temporary horizontal brace across the three upright posts. Measure the distance between the posts at the top, middle and base. Our garden bed is 233cm long so the distance between the posts is 103cm as the posts are 9cm wide. Adjust the clamps to ensure the posts a perpendicular to each other and are evenly spaced.
Step 3
Take a 90 x 45 piece of timber and cut it to a length that spans across the top of your three posts. Our garden bed is 233cm long. Pre-drill three 3mm holes at either end of this top piece and in the middle (at 116cm for ours). This will be your top horizontal member. Drive treated pine screws through the timber into the top of the three vertical posts.
Step 4
Take the measurement between your posts. We cut three pieces of the 150 x 25mm timber at 103cm. This will be the front, back and base of the planter box. Measure the internal height for end pieces. Cut two 125mm pieces from your 150 x 25mm stock. Place the end pieces in position and clamp on both sides to secure.
Step 5
Pre-drill 3mm holes around the perimeter of the front and back timber boards into the base and sides. You’ll need five holes into the base and three holes into each the sides. Countersink those holes. Drive treated pine screws to secure the boards in place. This process will be repeated on the back and front. In this vertical planter we are using six boxes and this process will be repeated for all six of them.
Step 6
Measure the width of the boxes and mark a centre line. The boxes will be 200mm wide so add a mark at 100mm. On this centre line we will take a scrap piece of 90 x 45mm timber and place it diagonally. Mark both sides of the timber. Step the timber back lining it up with one of the diagonal lines. Again, mark both sides of the timber. This gives us a reference to the angle at which the planter box will sit. Pre-drill three 3mm holes within the marked area.
Step 7
Install box into position between the vertical posts. Check the angle by matching up the marked lines on the side of the box with the vertical posts. Our boxes are space 10cm apart as this gives the plants enough room to grow without hitting the box above. Drive three treated pine screws from inside the box into each post. A second set of hands can be helpful here.
Step 8
Drill several evenly spaced 8mm drainage holes in the bottom of each box. Cut pieces of the builder film larger than what is needed to line the interior of the boxes. Use a staple gun the fix the plastic in place. Trim the plastic back so it is neat and flush with the timber. Cut some holes in the builder film allowing water to drain through it.
Step 9
Cut two lengths of 90 x 45mm timber to act as a central and lower support cross-members. Our cross-members are 233cm long. These timbers should be the same length as your top horizontal piece. Fix them to the vertical posts with treated pine screws. One will be at the mid-position which worked out to be 135cm high and the other just above the base which was 50cm high.
Step 10
Cut your lattice panels height to fit between the mid and lower brace and then cut the panels width to fit between the two upright posts. In our case this was 90cm high and 103cm wide. Fix the lattice to the middle and lower cross-member with treated pine screws. Cut to length your trim timber forming a basic frame around the lattice. These were two pieces 103cm long for the top and bottom and another two at 82cm long for the sides. Fix the frame in position with treated pine screws.
Congratulations. You have now completed your vertical garden planter project.
Materials
- 200 treated pine screws sized 8-10 x 75mm
- Five pieces of 4.8m treated pine measuring 150 x 25mm
- Six pieces of 2.4m treated pine measuring 90 x 45mm
- Two pieces of 2.4 DAR treated pine measuring 40 x 18mm
- Nine galvanised coach screws M8 x 100mm
- One roll of builder’s plastic 2 x 10m
- One piece of lattice measuring 1800 x 900mm
Tools
- Drill driver
- 6mm drill bit
- 3mm drill bit
- Countersink bit
- 8mm spanner or adjustable spanner
- Circular saw
- Tape measure
- Clamps
- Staple gun
