My $10 Reclaimed Climbing Vine Planter Box!

Yes its true, I spent exactly $10 for this planter. Okay, I did buy beer so i factor that in.. but these are all materials I had and was able to make this planter... let me explain:

My wife and I started planting all of our garden things in the last few months and she had planted some cucumbers and we didn't realize that they need something to climb as they grow. She wanted a cheap trellis from home depot that we would have just laid behind a pot but then she saw a $299 planter and mentioned that she liked it.

Between bulk pick up in our area and my awesome neighbor (whom is a maintenance guy at a condo building) I had accumulated a couple of bed frame (metal L bracket style) and some queen wooden bed slats (the ones that run across to keep the mattress up. So when she showed me the planter box I thought, well that looks kind of like some of the stuff we already have.. so this is what we ended up with.

When I build things like this (if you have read any of my other instructables), I find I like to start with an idea or inspiration but let the materials that I have dictate the final design. In this case this is what I had already:

Materials-

6 queen wooden slats

1 metal bed frame ( the kind that is adjustable with the cross pieces and the fixed wheels)

screws (wood 1.5" screws for box, Small black self tapping for 4 corner metal brackets/legs, 8 black wooden lag bolts for front leg/wall)

black rust-oleum paint and clear

I BOUGHT: $2 galvanized wire

Tools:

Saw

drill

metal drill bits

grinder (metal cut off wheel)... hacksaw could be used

sand paper

Beer

And a basic drawing to start.

8x 28" wooden slats

8x 14" wooden slats

So staring with the planter box I used my 6 bed slats and simply took all of the slats and trimmed off the ends (they had pre drilled holes for mounting to the bed) and gave myself 6 lengths at 56" and then cut 4 of them all in half so I had a total of 8 Pieces @ 28"

Then took the two remaining and cut them into 4 sections 14" each

Tada.. the wood dictated the dimensions of the box! This is important especially for up-cycling.. it is too hard to design and then find exactly all the pieces to fit into a puzzle.. versus using the pieces to create the puzzle.

So since I would have a stack of 4 boxes.. I simply built each level or frame box one at a time.. You will see from the pics that I was trying to be very careful on keeping it square but at the end of the day just screw them together. I butted the long pieces up to the sides and screwed together. Make 4 frames.

I then took one of the frames and placed it on a piece of plywood and traced the inside of it to form the bottom. After I cut out the plywood bottom I put a few screws in around the perimeter of the plywood and put in a couple of supports to keep the floor in place.

Once the floor was in on one one of the bottoms I simply stacked them all together and ran 4 pieces of scrap wood on the inside to lock them together.

I then took the height measurement of the completed box and cut 2 pieces of bed frame to put on the outside corners of the front of the box for extra support and aesthetics. (see the next step for the prep of the bed frame pieces before attaching)

Once my box was assembled I hit it with a coat of clear.

2x Bedframe longest pieces 67.5"
2x bedframe front corner beauty pieces 9.5"

2x bedframe rear legs 22"

So starting with the bed frames. I knew I wanted the front legs to be at an angle like the original inspiration and I wanted the "climbing wall" to go as high as possible.

Firstly I disassembled the frame. Just un-attaching the parts from each other. Then starting with the two longest parts of the bed frame I cut off the welded on wheel ends. Hit the cut ends with a file to remove any sharp edges. That dictated the length of the two front/ angle wall length 67.5".

Then I used the center pieces to create the front 2 corner pieces (in my case 9.5" each) and with the other piece I created the 2 rear legs (in my case 22" each).

I gave everything a light sanding and hit it with black high gloss rust-oleum.

Then working each corner piece and mocking it up in place with a clamp i simply pre drilled into the metal and used self tapping screws to fasten each corner into place. 2 front beauty corner pieces and the two rear corner legs.

Then with the box propped up and level I found the angle that I liked for the front /wall legs. Once I had it level and each one closely matching (angle) I clamped into place and marked the box where the legs were sitting and marked where each bolt would go (You need to mark everything and then remove the long front legs to pre-drill the metal legs with a metal bit) I only drilled through the metal frame since I had 8 black wood lag bolts I used.

Once everything was drilled I just reattached and bolted it all together.

Once it was pretty much assembled I simply made some holes with a small metal bit into the frame of the front legs/ climbing wall and ran wire from one side to the other.

I had originally tried to do it all with one piece.. trust me don't. Total pain in the A$%.. so i ended up running and cutting each section... Also i used wire but you can easily use rope or something else..

Fill it with dirt, plant you vegetables, site back have a beer and enjoy..