Planter Time!

Now that we have an actual backyard, we decided that the next rational step to nesting was to start an outdoor herb garden. I knew I wanted some kind of planter, but after scouring the internet for hours, I realized that in order to get the exact planter I wanted, we would have to build it ourselves.

Thus began our new project - the planter. I found a couple of plans online and ended up combining the two that looked the most promising. We loaded up on lumber and supplies at Home Depot, and started the building process. It ended up taking us a couple of days to build (because we kept getting rained out), but we finally finished the job!

Our shopping list:

Qty	Description	Part
2	4x4x10	Legs
2	2x4x8	Rails
2	1x6x10	Bottom
18	1x4x8	Slats
1	1x2x8	Door support
3	6" gate hinges
100+	Deck screws

And the best part was that Pat finally got to buy that circular saw that he'd been wanting for a while because we had to cut each board multiple times (and he didn't trust the Home Depot guys to cut it perfectly).

The cut list:

Pat cutting the legs for the planter

Once all the pieces were cut, we were able to start assembling the pieces - starting with the frame (which would serve as the platform where we would assemble the slats for the dirt to rest on - since we wanted to have the bottom of the planter available for storage).

Then Pat attached the legs to the frame

Once all the legs were securely screwed onto the frame, we started nailing the side slats to the legs. We were on a roll - but then Houston decided it was time to rain which meant that it was time for a lunch break :)

After we filled our bellies with delicious Chik-Fil-A, we returned to work and started to add the longer slats. 

Pat used clamps to hold the slats in place to make it easier to nail them down.

After we finished three sides, Houston decided to start raining again - so we gave up for the night. I had to go back to work the next day, so Pat decided to tackle the hardest part of the project by himself - building the door to the storage compartment.

He then attached it to the planter using the clamp/nail technique

Done!

The next step was to stain the planter. We used a one-step combination stain and polyurethane to seal the wood (Miniwax PolyShades in Pecan Satin 320).

Once that was fully dry, we lined it with planters fabric - making sure to overlap all the edges by at least 3-4 inches to make sure no leakage occurs.

We were finally ready to unload the handcart of goodies.

We added pond pebbles to the bottom to help with drainage. In retrospect, we probably should have bought 2 bags of pond pebbles - but by then, I just wanted to plant herbs so we decided against going back to Lowes (for the 3rd time) to get more supplies. We might regret this decision later on, but that's a situation for future Michelle and Pat to sort out.

Then we covered everything with a garden soil/manure combo and realized that the planter was too large, and that our calculations had been lacking - so we ended up going back to Lowes anyway to buy two more bags of soil.

Finally, we were able to transplant a few potted herbs (mint, basil, cilantro, rosemary) and sow some seeds (more basil - because you can never have enough, arugula, and a very hopeful peach pit).

And inspired by our good friends, Ale and Drew, we wanted to install some rain barrels as well (because water conservation is extremely important) - and we happened to find a pair Craigslist, woohoo!

Pat re-routed our gutter drains to dump into one of the rain barrels.

Then, built a beautiful stand for the rain barrels to sit on, and connected the two barrels with PVC pipes. It's only rained once or twice since the project's been completed, but the barrels are each already about 1/4 full!

And that's it! Hopefully this planter will keep our herb garden safe from slugs and possums for years to come!