Friday, May 18, 2012

My Mother's Day Garden Gift

For Mother's Day, I got my mom some gardening books and I made a garden paver with all the grandkids' handprints on it (she especially loved that -- I got the idea for it here). Garden-related gifts are always a hit with her -- and with me.

But I didn't get any gardening supplies from my parents this year. Instead, they gave me a garden!


If you've spent any time on Pinterest, you've likely seen at least a few ways to re-purpose wooden pallets.   Tables, bookshelves, beds, wall art, compost bins, fences, crates, and more. It's amazing what people can come up with.  Lucky for me, my dad just so happens to be the supervisor of a warehouse and gets first dibs on the wooden pallets. Knowing this, I told my mom all about the pallet gardens I'd seen on Pinterest.

To my surprise, Mom and Dad made me a pallet garden, with "Happy Mother's Day" written on the boards in chalk. I sure love those two!


My mom, the certified master gardener, knows my yard about as well as I do since I'm always asking for advice. As a result, she knew what I wanted to grow, what I would like more of, and what plants I particularly love.  My pallet garden has lavender, cilantro, basil, lettuces, and strawberries growing in it.

What's so fun about the pallet garden is that it takes up hardly any space. I have mine leaned up against our shed (even though it's really heavy and would be hard to tip over, I didn't want to take any chances with my curious one-year-old, so Kevin secured it to the shed with some screws). It's such a great solution for people with limited or no yard space. And even if your space isn't limited (my parents live on almost an acre of land and they've got these along their fence), it's great way to maximize your yard's food and herb production.


To make them, my dad simply got some outdoor cloth (you know, the kind you use to block weeds) and stapled it to the the wood. They filled it with potting soil and planted.  So simple. You have to be careful when you water it it - I just lightly mist it with my hose.


Gardening and a random reuse. Creative ideas like these just make me happy. My parents know me so well.

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