# Complete Hack Makes A Diy Planter Box



## Ulma Doctor (Apr 11, 2015)

My 4 yr old son came to me the other day and stated that he wants to grow fruits and vegetables.
it was cute at first, but then he got it in his head that he had to have a planter box to grow fruits and vegetables and asked me to build him a planter box. i agreed and told him that i'd make one and he could help out this weekend.
Wrong answer on my part... he has no concept of weekend and assumed it meant the next day and everyday since he'd be sure to remind me that he wanted to get the ball rolling.
this morning was the weekend finally!

i'll be the first to admit that i am no carpenter!
i have worked on metal things all my life and have an understanding with it.
conversely the only thing i know definitely about wood is that it cracks and splinters any time i try to work with it. Simple operations sometimes turn into acts of attrition.
if something metal doesn't act right i either cut it off,out, or smack it with my favorite BFH until it does what i need it to do.
i found out very early that the mentality is a lot different in woodworking.
my hat's off to those who know their craft and are smarter than i to work with the untrustworthy menace.
i have a hard time slaying the dragon every time i'm trying to save the kingdom 

the photographic evidence of the project cast in wood.





materials cost $65 at local Big Depot Home Supply Store



above:
Adding Furrning strips to the bottom of the box.



above
basic box is constructed


then turned into a 2 story


a little side bracing


a shot of the inside, the cleats secure the box bottom to the sides.

more to come!
thanks for taking the time to read!


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## Karl_T (Apr 11, 2015)

Good of you to encourage your son's desires. When i was 4 my dad built me a tractor tire sandbox. I used it to plant corn and beans. nearly 60 years later I still spend most of my time planting things.


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 11, 2015)

Thanks Karl for reading!
i don't have much of a green thumb, but i'm willing to try for the boy!


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 11, 2015)

i finished the build!!!
pictures for the interested!



i added a stiffener in the middle of the  planter box to keep the sides from bulging near the top.

i moved it to the rear of the house and put 150 lbs of gravel at the bottom for drainage and 6 bags of potting mix.
i'll need to add another bag or so to top it off after it gets wet and smashes down a bit.
the boy couldn't wait to get the hose and wet the new soil down!




tomorrow, the planting!


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 11, 2015)

Just a suggestion, Take the two screws out of the  upper brace (one side at a time), fabricate a couple of pieces of aluminum or stainless, 2" by 4", with a couple of holes in them and re-install the two screws.  This will prevent the screw heads from sucking into the wood as it pushes out.


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 11, 2015)

i had considered a plate of some sort, your comment cemented the action!
i agree 100% and will take the great advise !
thanks for the tip!

i should do the same thing elsewhere too!!!


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## middle.road (Apr 11, 2015)

I want some of those redwood planks, I haven't seen any around here in ages... The fencing staves at the store are all western cedar.


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## randyc (Apr 11, 2015)

middle.road said:


> I want some of those redwood planks, I haven't seen any around here in ages... The fencing staves at the store are all western cedar.



That isn't too surprising.  I live smack in the middle of Redwood country - we call our location "living behind the Redwood Curtain".  Maybe I can provide an example about the weird economics of redwood lumber.  All of the wood structures in the following photo are made from redwood except for the cedar fence.




I built these six large raised beds for my wife about eight years ago, completely from redwood, for a cost of $230 IIRC; the 2 x 4, 4 x 4 and  x 12 lumber delivered to my driveway.  I'm sure that the same load would cost double that today - at least.  THIS is where the Redwood trees are felled and milled so I'm getting a far better price than the same lumber transported to Home Depot, with a couple of price mark-ups along the way.

There are only two industries here: logging and fishing.  Probably 80% of all redwood comes from this single county.  The _dozens_ of local mills all have stockpiles of redwood approaching hundreds of thousands of cubic feet.  One HUGE stockpile is right in the middle of the closest town from my home !  Sometimes there are actually traffic problems caused by the huge trucks that transport the felled Redwoods to the mills.

I don't understand the economics of this - the mills seem to have huge supplies of raw product that just sit there !!?

Are they simply creating an artificial shortage ?  Who knows - the entire county is run by about three families and the timber interests are so powerful that they were able to organize a special election to recall the county district attorney when he attempted to enforce a fine against them that the U.S. Court had ordered !

Gasoline prices here are the highest in the United States.  I have to smile when the national news quotes the "highest" gas prices when ours are always _at least _$0.25/gallon higher.  Why do we pay these prices ?  Because one of the three families that run the county have the monopoly on gasoline distribution.  Every gas station, regardless of its name, has to buy from the single distributor.  Want cheaper gas - drive to one of the Indian reservations.

I'm sorry about the rant.  This is the wrong place for it   But maybe it helps explain why redwood is hard to find and so expensive when you find it !


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## Uglydog (Apr 12, 2015)

Very nice work!!

Helped me to recall my 14year old daughter telling us that she wanted to make the unfinished walk out basement her bedroom. My immediate thought I'm not going to allow a teenage daughter to slip out a basement walk out door in the middle of the night (I used to be that old). 

In an attempt to diffuse the request, I countered with sure, not a problem, if YOU do the work then we can make it happen. I thought the whole notion would be immediately stopped. She asked how she should begin. I told her she would need to create a bill of materials to frame the walls, insulate, and wire. The next day I was given a bill of materials and a hand sketched blue print. Arrgh.

Ok, so we went to the lumber yard and picked up 2x4s. She learned how to select them for straight etc. She did most of the lifting and loading, I helped and paid. Then she wanted to use the chop saw to cut them to length. This will stop her! Nope, over the weekend she  cut everything to length. I was pretty sure that hand nailing all those nails would stop the project. She bent alot of nails. But, learned to hammer. a month later. If you want electricity you are going to have to drill the studs. She isn't very big but she handled that 1/2inch drill well. At this point I know that I lost the wager. You can guess the rest. Now she is 22years old and in Madagascar. Evidently, everything turned out all right. 

UlmaDoc, be careful where the wild dreams of youth go!  You might end up with an vintage tractor in your yard! 

Daryl
MN


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## middle.road (Apr 12, 2015)

Uglydog said:


> Very nice work!!  Helped me to recall my 14year old daughter telling us that ....


I do believe that turned out well. Madagascar -EH? Impressive.


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## Smudgemo (Apr 12, 2015)

Great hobby to get him started in, for sure.  Radishes are a winner - they grow fast and will keep his attention.  Lettuces are also great since you can start eating them as micro-greens (as you thin them) and will continue to grow as they are consumed.  Intensive gardening is great for max yield, but you have to keep things watered nearly every day, and I'm guessing it would be a bit more tricky.  Oh, and beware of deer if they are around at all.  They'll eat every thing you are just about to enjoy.  They got me 2-3 times before I fixed the fence situation.  Birds will also steal things like squash just as they start to grow.  Netting and/or chicken wire fencing will handle it all.

If you care to read up on gardening via crusty old-guy advice, Steve Solomon's book "Gardening When it Counts" is a winner.  

Bon appetite.

-Ryan


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 12, 2015)

Thanks to all the replies!!!
i have made a modification at T's Bredehoft's suggestion, a pair of aluminum plates to keep the screws from pulling into the wood!
a couple more pictures!




the boy wanted to help so he was on the drill press' lever- he got a little heavy on the second hole to the left. the second plate was much better.
i think i have another metal maniac on our hands!









thanks for reading and commenting!!!


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 12, 2015)

That should do it.

Tom


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## Rick Leslie (Apr 12, 2015)

Veggies!! Great project and great that your son has an interest in gardening at his age. So what's on the menu?


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## Terrywerm (Apr 12, 2015)

Well, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has little trouble with metal but tend to pull my hair out when working with wood. I currently have a project on the horizon to make a nice wooden box for my rotary table. I suppose I can do a build thread on it when I get that far. Cross yer fingers!


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## markknx (Apr 12, 2015)

Them must have been magic seeds.
mark


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 12, 2015)

Rick Leslie said:


> Veggies!! Great project and great that your son has an interest in gardening at his age. So what's on the menu?



Hello Rick,
we have watermelon, blueberry,red pepper,cherry tomato,heirloom tomato,sweet basil.
the 2 that aren't planted yet are cucumber and yellow squash.

when selecting the plants my son threw a couple in the cart that i was not sure of, but what the heck it will be fun to see how it goes!

i read somewhere that you don't want to put a squash plant next to a watermelon-
 you'll get a cross fertilization that creates a weird hybrid that doesn't taste like melon or squash.

does anyone know more about things like this????


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 12, 2015)

Uglydog said:


> Very nice work!!
> 
> Helped me to recall my 14year old daughter telling us that she wanted to make the unfinished walk out basement her bedroom. My immediate thought I'm not going to allow a teenage daughter to slip out a basement walk out door in the middle of the night (I used to be that old).
> 
> ...



Well Daryl,
your daughter's independence was in no small way shaped by your actions.
once people do and accomplish things they have never tried, it only leads to greater success.

Like you,
i'm on a mission to teach my son to be a free thinker, to walk the fringes of the box that encapsulates the uninitiated.

thanks for sharing the story, you are obviously a great dad!


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## brav65 (Apr 13, 2015)

Nice work metal guy. I completed the same project last year with my son and daughter. The kids enjoyed it immensely and it teaches great lessons about how much work it is to produce food. I also found that there was no waste at dinner time when it came to the veggies they worked so hard on.  Growing up we had a two acre garden that provided a years worth of vegetables and fruits for our family for a year. My brother and I spent many hours pulling weeds, thinning plants and harvesting. I hated it at the time but now look at those times with great fondness.


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## dave2176 (Apr 14, 2015)

Two years ago I planted zucchini and yellow crook neck squash closer together than normal. At the end of summer I tilled it all in so that winter could do its work on the plant parts. Last year I had several squash plants come up from the left over seeds I tilled in. They were doing great so I adjusted to keep them in the garden. They grew a yellow and green stripped mostly zucchini variety. Decent tasting but a lot of large seeds to them that we just scrapped out before eating. I suppose it is possible that they cross breed but I think they would have to be in the same family of plants to be compatible. I don't think you could cross breed a blueberry bush with an apple tree. I do plant several varieties of melons together but never got a cantawaterloupemelon. 
Dave


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 14, 2015)

thank you for your input Dave!
i was mostly worried about a squashywatemelon abomination
but now that i think about tings for a while,
 a blueberry/watermelon/strawberry hybrid would be a tasty concoction!


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## Grumpy Gator (Apr 14, 2015)

Watch the basil plant close.When it starts to flower cut them off. If you don't and they turn to seed the basil will take over the whole box. They are very aggressive {SP].
***************Just Saying*********************************G*********************************


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 14, 2015)

thanks for the advise, Gator!


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## brav65 (Apr 15, 2015)

Funny you should say that as I now how to pull Basil weeds out all over my yard...


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## Grumpy Gator (Apr 15, 2015)

try planting the "three sisters". First plant Corn then it gets 10" tall plant pole beans around the corn and as they grow train them to go up the corn.They put nitrogen into the soil and the corn uses  that.then plant squash around the pole beans and that will give shade to the soil like mulch and keep out the weeds.
I got that tip from my Grandmother.
****************JADIP****************G************************


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 15, 2015)

Thanks Gator!!!
I learned about the three planted together long ago in grade school, but had totally forgotten about it.
If I'm not mistaken the native Americans planted that way.
Thanks for the information!!!


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