Pallet bed

The triumph of pallet bed is easy to understand. Cultivation boxes make it super easy to get started. You don’t have to dig, you don’t have to carry stones and you have good control over weeds. An above-ground soil bed heats up quickly. This leads to earlier and longer harvests.

What is a pallet bed?

Pallet beds are wooden boxes with metal fittings in the corners. They are foldable, have no bottom and come in two different sizes: 120 * 80 * 20 cm and 80 * 60 * 20 cm.

The boxes are used for goods transport and storage. Today, growing in pallet bed has become so popular that they are manufactured directly for horticulture. But it is still worth asking around for second-hand pallet bed at companies and cargo firms.

Pallet beds are very easy to stack on top of each other. This creates a deeper growing bed where plants with strong roots thrive.

Pallet beds last longer if treated with wood oil.

How to grow in a pallet bed?

• Prepare the ground

Choose a spot that gets at least 6-7 hours of sun per day. The simplest method is to cover the ground where the pallet bed will stand with newspaper or cardboard. This will prevent root weeds from getting into the box. Once the covering material has decayed, the weeds will have disappeared. You can also choose to dig into the ground and turn down the sward. We don’t usually cover the ground with plastic or ground cloth. It is important that worms and micro-organisms can find their way into the crop.

• Fill with soil

A pallet beds holds about 200 litres of soil. In the bottom layer you can put plant remains, leaves and old garden soil. In the top layer of soil, mix planting soil with natural fertiliser. Feel free to add finished compost, biochar and/or bokashi.

What can you grow in a pallet collar?

• Simple pallet bed

Many shallow-rooted crops do not need a large volume of soil. They grow well in a simple pallet bed. These include radishes and leafy vegetables – such as spinach, lettuce, rocket, cabbage and Asian leafy vegetables. Scallions, chives, garlic, broad beans and peas also work well. Even summer annuals will thrive. Chilli, bush tomato and potted cucumber are some more options.

• Double pallet beds

Some plants do well in a single pallet bed, but grow even better in double pallet beds. These include berry plants, perennial herbs and small, round beetroot. Plants that need two pallet collars are larger onion plants, potatoes, root vegetables, celery and fennel. This also applies to vegetables with a large above-ground volume, such as tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, squash and rhubarb.

Tips for growing in pallet beds

• Dare to sow earlier than usual

A raised bed warms up more quickly in the spring sunshine than a standard open-air bed. Therefore, seeds can be sown earlier in a pallet bed than is normally recommended in a particular growing zone. With a cover or a fibre cloth on top of the pallet bed, you can start the growing season even earlier.

• Retain water with cover crops

A raised bed is not only easily heated. It also has good drainage. It is easy for the soil in a pallet bed to dry out. Remember to water when it doesn’t rain. And keep the moisture in the soil by cover cropping. This means putting grass clippings or other organic material on top of the soil between the plants. As well as saving on watering, the mulch smothers weeds and provides extra nutrients for decomposition.

• Grow at height

Mix low-growing crops with high-growing ones. Perhaps some harvest crops such as broad beans, field peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, maize or Jerusalem artichokes? Maybe flowering cress, sweet pea, sunflower or clematis? Support the plants with a trellis, bamboo sticks or a homemade support of branches.

• Botanise among accessories

Growing in a pallet collar can be helped by various accessories. A metal snail edge deters unwelcome visitors. Cultivation tunnels, fibre cloth and customised mini-greenhouses are good in two ways: they protect against pests and create a warmer microclimate. The fibre cloth can be held to the ground by stones, but there are also elasticated fibre cloths specially designed for growing in pallet beds.

Fingers in the soil and watering can out

Now it’s time to get started! Fingers in the soil and watering can out. Growing in pallet beds is simple and easy. Many people who start with one or two boxes soon get more. There are always new vegetables and flowers waiting to be included in this summer’s growing project.

Author: Johanna Damm

Fact-checked by Erik Hoekstra

Last updated 2022-10-14