Building Planters from Leftover Timbers (4 x 4s)

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This post has been a long time coming and I am sometimes most ashamed at just how long it takes me to make things-not the posting. Obviously if I made these planters a bit sooner I would've posted it sooner-like last spring! At any rate, a project I've had on the burner for a few years has finally come to fruition. Many many years ago my husband brought home a wooden box with wheels on it. The wooden box was made of plywood with probably 2 x 6s for its base and corner posts. The wooden box was about 2'x2' and a perfect planter. I had it out front with a grass or something or other growing it. As the years went by the box deteriorated until the point it just fell apart last summer. Enter some old 4x4s I had in my garden. I don't like using wood for anything simply because it does rot and waste away but these 4x4s were in pretty good shape and I thought with the right set up I might just make them last for a while. I gathered all of the 4x4s and set them on my driveway in anticipation for the day I'd be able to build my new planters. You can see the wide variety of sizes and types in the picture above.

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Little did I know it would take about six months for the time to come that I could finally put my plan into action. I had a vision and also a plan, but as plans go mine changed. My plan was to have a somewhat tapered pyramid style planter (two). My challenge was to get all of the pieces cut from the limited amount of 4 x4 I had. I really had to be creative with measurements making sure I had no leftovers, but when all was said and done I did well and had enough pieces of the now much shortened 4x4s for my planters. In order to ensure it all worked I stacked as I went along.

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The next step was to attach the pieces together to form the squares. This took a lot of time and muscle power and resulted in a few blisters. The way I decided to secure these 4x4s together was with lag screws counter sunk into the wood and as an added security measure I added construction adhesive to the joints. Drilling each of the holes, changing the bit then drilling the countersunk part took a lot of time then screwing them all together took even longer. Finally! Once all squares were secured I painted the squares with a good quality wood stain. The product up to now is pictured above.

The next to the last step was to secure the 4x4s together. I managed this by using more construction adhesive and then nailing in five inch spikes through the wood. This took a lot of time as well. Hammering in five inch spikes was hard work and even though I am used to carpentry my arm needed quite a few rests. In fact, I could not complete each step on both of the planters and had to take a few days to get to this point.

The last and final steps were to secure a bottom to the planters, drill some drainage holes, add the casters (weight limit 300 pounds-these casters were found at Harbor Freight but any good hardware store should carry them for a few bucks), flip the planters upright then line the inside with heavy black plastic and completion!

I did add in a few large squares of hard Styrofoam to the bottom part of my planters to take up some room and allow for drainage. The bottom foot or so is nothing but Styrofoam. Lastly, I mixed my own potting soil and filled the planters. One planter holds a windmill palm (given to me by a fellow blogger), and the other holds an ornamental grass. The windmill palm is supposed to be hardy to Zone 7 and while we are in technically in Zone 6 here, I think with the insulating capacity of the 4x4s, and the reflective properties of the stone on my home that my palm should be fine outside for most of the winter. If the palm starts to look bad it will be a simple matter to wheel it into the garage where it will be safe. I have seen these windmill palms over winter in my area with nothing but a burlap wrap so I am hopeful it will be safe outside. Here are the finished products.....

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Windmill Palm Tree

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Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegata'

in the garden....

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