DIY Planter Box

I had been on the lookout for quite some time, years in fact, to find a large planter box to put on the side of my garage. If I was lucky I was hoping to find two that matched. If I was willing to accept a Grecian urn type look I would have been in business but that wasn't ringing with my rustic country vibe I was hoping to illustrate. My patience had run out but my luck began when I asked my friend if I could rummage through her dilapidated shed that had turn into a pile of ancient materials. I found some awesome, rusty, corrugated metal. Thank you, I will take it! Planter box here I come!

I had hoped to use all salvaged material for this project to help everything flow a little better. I had used pallet boards to make the shutters for my windows, but I did not have the patience this time around to round up some pallets and then tear them apart. I opted to use the 3 1/2 inch by 6 foot cedar planks from the hardware store.

Step 1.

I started off lightly sanding the boards to help smooth down the really rough stuff. Next I grabbed the stain I had on hand, which happened to be a dark mahogany, and lathered on just one coat.

Step 2.

Next I cut my planks. For one planter you will need eight planks that are the height you want. In my case, I kept it easy and just cut the six foot board on half - three feet. You will need four boards for the front and back width. I needed mine to be 27 inches. Lastly, you will need four boards for the width of the sides. Mine were 15 inches deep.

Step 3.

Take two of your tall planks and place them on either end of your wide (27 inch) pieces and nail together. Tip: I used some wood glue and brad nails to secure this together but depending on the size and what it will be used for, you could secure with screws.

You will do this twice, one for the front panel and one for the back.

Step 4.

Stand your panel up and attach another tall plank on each end. It will look kind of like a letter L.

Step 5.

Cut your corrugated metal to the size you need. Remember that you have a three inch buffer because of the width of the planks so it doesn't need to be exact. I used tin snips because that is what we had but I know there are saws that can do the job as well.

Step 6.

Attach the front and back metal sheets to their panel section using 1/2 inch self tapping screws.

Step 7.

Next you will attach the front and back panels together at the sides using the remaining four planks.

Step 8.

Secure the side metal pieces in place.

You can stop here and call it finished but since my planters would be in the front of my house I wanted to finish off the top by adding some planks.

Another thing I decided to do since my planters were so tall, was make a shelf that would hold the soil so I wouldn't have to fill the entire planter. To do this, build a small table frame.

I measured so the shelf would be 12 inches from the top. Do not attach the top yet! Because of the lip I created on top of my planter, I had to turn my box on its side and insert the table from the bottom. With it being inside, I can now secure to top of my table.

Now you can add some weed barrier cloth, some lovely black gold and last but not least, flowers!

I have yet to find a flower combination that has done well, so we'll see if this year, things decide to grow. I have some sweet potato vine, trailing petunia, nasturtium, snapdragon and lobelia. I'll post a picture later on in the season to show if this is a good combination. Do you have any favorite flower combinations?