Turn An Old Drawer Into Scrap Material For A DIY Garden Bed

You have just bought yourself a swanky new set of drawers. They are set up in your room, and now you are thinking about what to do with the old set. If they're in good condition, you could donate them to your local thrift store. Otherwise, you may have to pay a visit to the landfill. It turns out there are some brilliant ways to upcycle old drawers into something beautiful for your garden. Chief among them is breaking the drawers down completely and using the parts to build bespoke garden beds that suit your specific needs.

How you go about this project depends on the size and material of the drawers and what function the garden beds serve. For a straightforward way to repurpose old dresser drawers, remove the bottom of the drawers, place them on the ground, and fill them with topsoil. Alternatively, retain the base and drill holes in it to help with drainage.

However, you may also wish to take your drawers apart completely using simple carpentry tools. Assorted screwdrivers, a pry bar, and a rubber mallet might all come in handy here. Then you can put the different parts back together, Lego-style, in a configuration that suits your outdoor space and the plants you grow. Tools needed for this include an electric drill, thin garden poles, string, a spirit level, a saw, and a spade. This approach is more work, but it's also highly bespoke.

Scrap material from dresser drawers, which is a surprisingly common material you can use for DIY raised garden beds, allows you to build a raised garden bed that is the right size and shape wherever you need it. First, take apart your old dresser drawers so that you have a few different sizes of planks. Some drawers will be easier to break down than others, so utilize all your tools as needed. Then map out your raised beds on your lawn using the garden poles and string. Take measurements so you know exactly how long, wide, and tall you need the sides to be. Need smaller planks than the original wood from your drawers? Cut them down to size using an electric or hand saw. For larger, longer siding, you can combine drawer planks.

Once you have your sides cut and ready to go, it is time to prepare the spot for your garden bed. Use the spade to level the ground inside your pole-and-string-marked plot and remove any turfgrass, weeds, and rocks. Dig a thin, shallow trench all the way along the border of the bed and carefully insert the repurposed drawer planks into it. Use a spirit level to make sure they align with each other, then fill in any gaps with soil. Use the electric drill and appropriately sized screws to secure the planks together. Attach metal brackets or short lengths of scrap wood from the dresser drawers to the outside corners for added support. Now all that's left to do is fill your raised garden bed with soil and get planting!