DIY >   A spice garden a little differently

A spice garden a little differently

Jana Koteska

Lack of space does not mean we cannot create a small spice garden in our home. I am not a hobby gardener myself, but when I came across this interesting solution on the Internet a few days ago, on how to change a wooden pallet into a home for plants, I decided to take on this exciting challenge myself. I asked a friend to help me, as a working weekend is always a good idea for spending time together, and sunny spring days are absolutely the perfect time to become a “DYI” expert.

A waste wooden pallet can be an extremely useful thing. Keep your eyes peeled, as you might find this forgotten treasure just around the corner or maybe at the neigbours’. And the neighbours’ house was exactly where I spotted mine, and they were kind enough to let me have it.

1.) Before using the pallet, it must first be cleaned and sanded until the surface becomes smooth. The sanding machine had to do quite a lot of work, as I wanted the smoothest possible surface. The pallet can also be sanded manually, however, it will take some more time.

2.) Remove the two narrow slats from the pallet.

3.) Place the slats that were removed on the other side in order to create a trough for the plants.

4.) Before the pallet assumes its new decorative role, it must be adequately protected. First, I coated the wood with BORI impregnation with biocide W in order to protect it against wood pests.

5.) The next day, I covered the “troughs” with a thick foil and used a stapler to attach it to the edges. Te herbs and flowers could hardly wait to be settled in their new home.

6.) Once the impregnation coat was completely dry (it is recommended to wait 24 hours before applying woodstain), I started coating the wood with BORI gel woodstain. As I wanted the wood to be dark, I selected the teak shade among the six available shades. BORI gel woodstain is a new product in the Helios product mix, and has a special gel structure which enables a quick and easy application of the coating without dripping. A particular characteristic of the gel woodstain is that there is no need to mix it before use. While applying the first coat I started getting a little hungry as the appearance of the woodstain strongly resembled chocolate pudding.

7.) While the woodstain was drying, I put some pebbles on the bottom of the trough, then added soil up to the middle, added spices and flowers, and another layer of soil.

8.) I could hardly wait to take the mini garden to a quiet spot behind the house, where the shadow of the vine provides a great spot for reading and picnics. These will be even more interesting now as we will be able to hand pick our own fresh spices directly from the garden.