I wanted raised garden beds. The cedar ones at the garden center were two hundred dollars each. I needed three. That was six hundred dollars before I had planted a single seed. I almost gave up on the whole idea.

Then I noticed the stack of pallets behind the grocery store with a “Free” sign on them. Three weekends later, I had three raised beds. Total cost: about thirty dollars for screws and soil amendments.

Find the Right Pallets

Not all pallets are safe for garden use. Look for the HT stamp — that means heat-treated, not chemically treated. Avoid pallets stamped MB (methyl bromide — toxic) or pallets that have clearly held chemicals or petroleum products. Grocery stores, hardware stores, and furniture stores are good sources for clean HT pallets. Always ask before taking them, even from a stack marked free.

Break Them Down Without Destroying the Wood

Prying pallets apart with a crowbar usually splits the boards. The better method: use a reciprocating saw to cut through the nails between the deck boards and the stringers. The boards come off clean and intact. If you do not own a recip saw, a hammer and a pry bar work — just go slow and accept that you will lose some boards. Get extra pallets to compensate.

Simple Construction

You do not need joinery skills. Cut four corner posts from a 2×4 — about 12 inches tall for a standard bed. Screw the pallet boards horizontally across the posts to form the walls. Two boards high gives you about a 10-inch bed, which is plenty deep for most vegetables. Line the inside with landscape fabric to keep soil from washing out through the gaps, fill with a mix of topsoil and compost, and start planting.