Gardener Uses Old Bed Slats To Make An Easy To Build Planter & Trellis

When your old bed is no longer in use, give it a second life by turning it into a bed for your garden plants instead. That's exactly what creator Bang on Style did on TikTok, turning her discarded IKEA slats into the sides of a compact planter and even attaching a wooden ladder trellis to the back to train climbing plants up it. The final result looks like something she could have easily picked up at the garden center, but it's actually an impressive DIY job that repurposes something that would have otherwise gone to the landfill.

Before any gardening can begin, the project starts with a bit of woodworking. She first removed all the staples from the slats, then she cut them at an angle with a miter saw. From there, she used battens to hold the four planks together and drilled countersunk screw holes to keep the fasteners flush with the surface. She left gaps between the boards so that when watering her garden bed, water has somewhere to escape to, which is important as container-grown plants will struggle if water cannot drain. She then attached the trellis and finished off the job by adding some smaller wood scraps as feet. applying wood filler, sanded, and painted. 

While she also lined the inside with plastic, which can help extend the life of a wooden planter, particularly since the bed will be kept outdoors year-round, it should be noted that this liner would need to be made of material that allows water to pass through, such as landscape fabric.

By adding the ladder trellis to the back, the creator really makes this her own, but you can adapt it to suit your own needs. Whether that's a shorter trellis for a patio or an even taller one to help climbing plants like sweet peas, cucumbers, and jasmine through their growing season. It's just important to match the plant to the right support, as a more vigorous climber may be quite heavy once it is covered in leaves. The trellis could also be swapped for a simple wire grid, wooden pallets, a few horizontal battens, or a window frame with chicken wire.

The clever creator also painted her DIY planter to match her shed, which makes the whole thing feel like part of her garden. This is an easy detail to customize — you could paint it to match a feature in your space or use a bright color to make the planter a focal point. When it comes to use, this could make a great garden addition for anyone looking to grow anything from whimsical climbing plants for a fairytale effect to a flourishing vegetable patch during the warmer months.