By Kat from @thorpe_bungalow_reno
Do you have old wooden pallets lying around—or maybe you’ve spotted some going spare at your local shop or warehouse? Instead of letting them end up as waste, why not give them a second life in your garden? With a little creativity and some basic tools, wooden pallets can be transformed into sturdy, attractive raised beds for growing vegetables, herbs, or flowers.
This step-by-step guide is how I built my own raised bed using up-cycled pallets as part of our bungalow renovation.
Why Up-cycle Pallets?
• Eco-friendly: Keeps wood out of the landfill.
• Budget-friendly: Free or very cheap compared to buying new timber.
• Practical: Raised beds improve drainage, warm up faster in spring, and reduce weeding.
• Customisable: You decide the size, shape, and finish.
What You’ll Need
• 3-4 wooden pallets: choose ones in decent condition and to the sizes that would suit your space
• Crowbar or hammer with a claw
• Handsaw or circular saw
• Drill and outdoor screws
• Mouse sander (or sandpaper if you really want an arm workout!)
• Weed suppressant fabric
• Staple gun and staples
• Some extra planks of wood to fill pallet gaps (or you can use the extra slats from dismantled pallets)
Step 1: Source Your Pallets
Look for pallets:
• With your Brisks order
• DIY stores
• Industrial estates
• Local recycling centres
• Make sure they’re in good condition and that you’ll be able to get equal sizes to the opposite sides of the pallet.
Step 2: Decide on the Size
A common raised bed size is 4 ft x 2 ft (1.2 m x 0.6 m), but adjust to fit your space.
• Height: 30–45 cm is usually enough for veggies. Mine was about 50cm tall. This can again depend on the look you want to go for (do remember that the taller they are the more filling they will need).
Step 3: Break Down the Pallets
• I started by sawing the pallets down to the height I wanted, and then sawed off any long end pieces that were sticking out beyond the rectangle shape (just to neaten it up so it was uniform all the way around).
• I chose to keep the 3D aspect of the pallets as it immediately gave a stronger structure to the bed, but you could dismantle the whole pallet down to planks of wood if you wanted a different aesthetic.
• If there’s any useful wood left from any offcuts of the pallets, you can use a crowbar or saw to dismantle the pallets carefully as this wood could come in handy later.
Step 4: Build the Frame
1. Lay out your pallets to form the four sides.
2. Using long outdoor screws and a drill, screw the slats into the corner blocks (3 screws per corner should be enough).
3. With those extra slats / planks of wood, fill in the gaps around the pallet, attaching them to the inside of the pallet walls (this doesn’t need to cover 100% of the gaps, so it doesn’t matter if the wood isn’t exactly the right width of the gaps, but you’ll need the support to hold the filling in so it doesn’t try and bulge out of the gaps and put pressure on the weed fabric).
4. Check it’s square and stable.
5. Use a hand sander to sand down the parts of the bed that will be visible - this will get rid of splinters and even up the colour to make the pallet look a bit newer and more uniform.
Step 5: Position and lining
• Move your pallet into your desired position (it’s easy for one person to move whist there’s no lining and you can stand in the middle). Make sure the spot you choose gets the right amount of sunlight for plants.
• If you have any old cardboard, you can put this underneath the pallet as an extra weed suppressant that will biodegrade over time.
• Line the interior with weed suppressant landscape fabric and staple into position with a staple gun.
Step 7: Fill
• Fill with a mix of topsoil, compost, and organic matter: when we realised how much compost we would need to buy to fill the whole thing, it would quickly become very expensive! So we started gathering dried leaves and grass cuttings over a couple of weeks to fill in the bottom. We also had a lot of rubble hanging around from landscaping so added some big chunks of that to the base to help with drainage. Putting grass cuttings near the bottom is best as you don’t want any weeds trying to pop up through the topsoil.
• In the top half, we mixed good quality topsoil from our garden with new compost.
• Plant your herbs, vegetables, or flowers! (We also added a protective cloche to stop the birds having a free lunch!)
Final Touch: Decorate (optional)
• I knew I wanted stones to surround our vegetable patch because it would make a practical part of the garden look at bit more thought-out and pretty, but also so we didn’t have to worry about any awkward lawn mowing around the raised beds.
• After scouring the internet and comparing what felt like every aggregate company out there, I found the best deal for beautiful white pebbles from Brisks and we are so happy with the results! Gorgeous stones, perfect delivery service and for a great price.
Enjoy the Harvest 🌱
With just a few hours' work, you’ve given waste wood a new life and created a sustainable, productive feature for your garden. Every time you pick fresh herbs or veggies, you’ll be reminded that up-cycling can be practical, beautiful, good for the planet, and great for the budget!
If you give this a go please tag us in your pics! We’d love to see the results! @thorpe_bungalow_reno & @brisks_outdoors
