Making planter boxes for Mona

Mona needed more places to plant her flowers, so I built her some planter boxes — using impregnated wood and lining the inside with landscape fabric.

Table of contents

Large, with trellis

Types of material used:

48×48 mm impregnated timber
30×48 mm impregnated timber
19×98 mm impregnated board
Plastic wire mesh (19×19 mm mesh size)
Landscape fabric

Dimensions:

Box outer size: 140×60×60 cm
Box depth: 40 cm
Total height: 180 cm

This being my first planter box build — I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I watched a few YouTube videos, and thus; I became an expert 😛

I built the frame out of 48×48 mm timber, making the trellis part of the structure.

The flooring was raised about 20 cm, simply to cut down on the amount of material needed to fill the box later.

I lined the outside with 30×48 mm timber, using a few scrap boards as spacers.

19×98 mm boards was used as flooring. I used some scrap 30×48 mm timber to cover the openings between the floor boards and the outer lining.

We had some left over landscape fabric that I used inside the box. I stapled it to the top of the frame, hiding it under the 19×98 mm board at the top. In the trellis I used some fencing wire mesh we had left over.

The planter box was placed on six leveled curbstones.

The Purple Bell Vine looks amazing climbing the wire mesh — with the small mesh size (19 mm) it wiggles its way upward.

In front is the Dichondra “Silver Falls” spilling over the edge 🙂

Purple Bell Vine and Dichondra "Silver Falls" in planter box

Hexagonal

Types of material used:

48×48 mm impregnated timber
30×48 mm impregnated timber
19×98 mm impregnated board
Landscape fabric

Dimensions:

Inside long diagonal: 50 cm
Sides (inside, mitred): 25 cm
Perimeter: 150 cm
Height: 45 cm

I wanted to try and build something round-ish, and Mona showed me a photo of a hexagonal plater box. I spent some time finding a suitable size, with the help of a Hexagon calculator.

As each corner had to be 120°, I mitred the 48×48 mm timber at 30° on my miter saw — that left 60° on each piece, totalling 120° 🙂

I made two identical hexagons, the inner length of all pieces was 25 cm.

Then I mounted 30×48 mm timber between the two hexagons. I started in the center, using some scrap wood as a spacers for the other pieces.

Underneath; I used three blocks as feet, to lift the frame up from the surface — and also prevent wobble.

19×98 mm impregnated boards were used for the flooring.

Almost done, just missing the landscape fabric and mitred boards at the top.

And there you have it, right next to the main entrance 🙂

My work was done, now it was up to Mona it make use of it. Here with Bidens ferulifolia (Apache Beggarticks).

Hexagonal planter box — with Bidens ferulifolia (Apache Beggarticks)

So many flowers 🌸

Medium, plain

Types of material used:

48×48 mm impregnated timber
30×48 mm impregnated timber
11×36 mm impregnated batten
19×98 mm impregnated board
Landscape fabric

Dimensions:

Box outer size: 65×43×40 cm

I don’t have any photos of the building process of this box… But it was built with the same material and principle as the previous ones. I originally didn’t plan for it to have the same 19×98 mm board around the top as the others, but it ended up looking cluttered without it.

I used 30×48 mm timber down the sides at first, but that made it look bulky — so I replaced it with 11×36 mm instead.

Planter box complete — in its final destination

With 11×36 mm board on the edges, and the 19×98 mm board on top — it looked really clean 👍

We placed it by the garage, and Mona planted Impatiens walleriana (busy Lizzie).

Planter box with Impatiens walleriana (busy Lizzie)

This bench is ideal for coffee and my tobacco pipe ☕

Storage crate

Types of material used:

48×48 mm impregnated timber
30×48 mm impregnated timber
19×98 mm impregnated board
Landscape fabric

Dimensions:

Box outer size: 58×34×30 cm

I wanted this box to be a different, rougher, like a storage crate. The frame was again constructed of 48×48 mm timber, but I used 30×48 mm across — so that the floor boards could be mounted “inside” the bottom frame.

I used 19×98 mm boards for the sides, but split the middle board in two — making it half the width.

Landscape fabric inside, as before. I cut a 19×98 mm board down to 67 mm width and mounted it on both short sides. Covering the outside boards, and the inside frame.