I was totally against using old pallets for a garden bed until my neighbor showed me his

For years I thought pallet wood was just junk, full of chemicals and splinters. Then Frank, the guy two doors down, built a raised bed from three pallets he got free from a local feed store. He spent a weekend breaking them down, sanding the wood smooth, and lining the inside with heavy plastic. He told me, 'The trick is to only use ones stamped with HT, for heat treated, not MB for chemical.' I saw it last spring and it looked great, and this year his tomatoes are huge. It made me realize I was just being snobby about buying new cedar. Now I'm looking for HT pallets to make a compost bin. Has anyone else built something from pallets that actually lasted more than a season or two?

2 comments

2 Comments

patriciareed4d ago

Funny how we get these ideas in our heads about what's "good" or "proper" for projects like this. It reminds me of the whole thing with pressure treated wood a while back, where everyone got scared of the old stuff and threw out perfectly good benches and planters. There's a lot of wisdom in just looking for the right stamp, like your neighbor said with the HT mark. My own pallet herb garden is going on its third year now, and it's holding up fine because I was picky about the source. Makes you wonder what other free or cheap stuff we write off without really checking it out first.

eric7234d ago

lol true but also like...how many people are really checking stamps on pallets? Most folks just grab the free wood and hope for the best.