Moving the Pallet Wall Garden

Week 7 of the One Room Challenge is complete! What did we get done???

A whole bunch of this…

We headed to our long-awaited vaca in Punta Cana.

But, of course, we have DIY updates for you!

Remember This?

The pallet wall garden that was next to the house came down awhile back.

This took place in May, and I’ve been dying to show you where we put it! 

Why Move It?

If you read the blog about creating the pallet wall garden, you’ll know that we originally wanted something to block the setting sun while enjoying dinner on the patio. It worked…kind of. I also fell in love with the idea of having a living wall as an amazing style + function piece where we grew a ton of herbs. We went round and round about moving it away from the original spot.

Moving it would…

• make extending the patio easier
• ensure we found a spot with better sun
• allow us a more targeted option for blocking the sun

It would also…

• take the herbs farther from the kitchen
• be A LOT of work

We decided it had to come down and find a new spot. And, I figured out exactly where I wanted to put it.

This is the area where we installed the pool. As you can tell, the fence is high enough that we definitely have privacy from the house that’s adjacent. But, once the pool went in, and we were swimming–an extra four feet above the ground–the privacy is kind of gone. What we needed was a wall. And, this area gets full sun. Win-win!

Disassembling the Pallet Wall Garden

It was a big undertaking, but not as crazy as you’d think. Scott knows this trick with installing posts that makes them easier to move. In retrospect, I bet sometimes he wishes he didn’t know it.

We don’t use concrete. We use paver base. The posts are down in the hole about 36 inches, held securely in paver base. But, unlike concrete, when you want to move them, you just need leverage.

Before removing the wall, we had to separate the three sections from themselves, making it easier to manage.

The Prep Work

We got it down. We knew where we wanted it. What could go wrong?

There was one shrub that needed to be removed. If you want to laugh, head to stories on Instagram to see me wrestle this thing out of the ground, finally needing help from Scott to get it completely out.

Digging the post holes took some measuring. We measured the holes at 42 inch centers. I’m not going to sugar coat this–it was hot. It’s a lot of work. But, luckily there’s two of us. We make a good team.

We had four holes to dig, and then we had to level everything up before screwing it all back together. The middle pallets were added back in after the post holes were dug, and we had a good chance at being able to level everything together. It took some adjustments.

Recreating the Look

If you’ve seen our pallet wall garden before, you might notice that we’ve been able to use the same pieces for three years now. This year, I also made a few changes and additions.

I added small pieces of wood as shims to keep everything more upright. I also spray painted the star, which was not standing out enough against the cedar stained wood. The black macrame plant hangers are a new feature as well. Here are the product links for you to check out:

Round plant pot holders

Rectangular plant pot holders

Cedar wood stain

Black spray paint

Black macrame plant hangers

The round wall art that says “Love Lives Here” was done by a local artisan here in Batavia. I love adding bits of color, and the message is perfect for our family.

What Do You Think?

Do you have a vertical garden? What are you growing? If you need inspo, check out this post on plant walls I did awhile back.

I’m loving the new location of ours. It’s not only growing herbs better in the sun, but it’s a beautiful way to maintain some privacy. I thought it might add slight annoyance to our lives for watering and pruning being this far from the house, but it’s just fine!