Pallets are a great way to recycle on the homestead. Here are some simple and easy pallet projects for the homestead and garden- so easy you don’t even have to take the pallets apart!
Pallets are all the rage right now, and they are a very useful, free tool to use around the house, farm and yard. A simple search on Pinterest or Google will give you a plethora of ideas on what to make with this free pallet wood. I have one problem with most of these DIY pallet projects though, you have to take the pallet apart!
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Now, maybe there is an easier way, but after the one time I tried to take a pallet apart I vowed to never do it again! It wasn’t easy, it took forever and it didn’t look pretty in the end.
So, while we use pallets all over our homestead, we hardly ever take them apart.
So what can you make with a whole pallet? Here are 6 quick and easy pallet projects to get you started.
6 Quick Pallet Projects for the Homestead… No disassembling required!
1. Make a Pallet Gate.
Pallets actually make quite good gates. At our old house we had one simply wired to a wood gate post. It served us well, with next to no wear and tear for over 2 years. Last year we were fencing in a new pasture for our alpacas and were in need of a gate.
And if you have ever priced metal farm gates you know just how expensive they are! So instead of spending money we grabbed a wooden pallet and placed it over t-post and voila! a new gate!
This is about the easiest gate you will ever make. Seriously 2 t-posts, a whole pallet, and some wire. That’s all you need to make this easy project.
2. The Pallet Compost Bin
Every homestead needs a compost bin and pallets are the perfect fit.
You can make how ever many compartments you need, but I suggest starting with at least 2.
The slats on the pallets are great for aeration while still containing an ever growing pile.
To make a pallet compost bin you simply need at 3 wooden pallets and screws. 3 pallets will make one compartment, 5 will make 2 compartments, 7 will make 3 compartments and so on.
You can leave the front open or place a removable barrier such as a cattle panel for easy access to the compost and for turning.
You can’t get any easier than that!
3. Pallet Hay Feeders
Again, if you have ever priced a hay feeder/hay rack, you will know that they are another necessary item that is way overpriced. We have made 2 hay feeders out of pallets that only cost us the price of the screws.
We use pallets as legs and barrels we got free from a local dairy. We used small pallets and a half-barrel for one and 2 large pallets and a whole barrel with a window cut out for another.
And to be honest, since our shelters are also made from pallets, sometimes I’ll just stuff hay in the pallets themselves!
Related Reading: 11 Recycled Barrel Projects for the Homestead
You can see examples of this simple pallet project in the picture below.
4. Pallet Animal Stalls
If you own animals, sometimes you might need to subdivide your barns and shelters to accommodate sick, young or birthing animals. Pallets are just the thing for this!
They are easy to attach together to form walls and easy to more around to make the stall size you need. Our first year kidding we only had 2 baby goats to close up at night, now we usually have at least 6.
It was easy to move our pallet partitions around to make the stall fit the number of animals we had.
To make pallet stalls just screw the pallets together in at least 3 places down the length. Use as many as you need to create the size stall you need.
In the picture below we did 3 pallets long and one pallet wide. This creates a 10 foot by 40 inch wide stall.
Related Reading: 6 Pallet Projects for Your Goat Yard
5. The Pallet Tool Organizer
Gardeners have a lot of tools that can take up a lot of space. A pallet secured to a wall can hold all those long handled shovels, hoes, and rakes. They will be out of the way and all in one spot.
You can also attach small hooks to the front of the pallet to hold smaller tools and gloves.
How’s that for an easy wood pallet project?
Photo via Nic Robinson on Flickr
6. A Pallet Garden Trellis
Many pallets have slats that are very far apart and make a wonderful place to grow vining fruits and vegetables.
Lovely Greens has a great trellis made from pallets (pictured below) or you can screw 2 pallets together in an A shape to create a 2 sided pallet trellis.
Not all pallets are created equal- if you are going to use a pallet in the garden you might want to search out one made from untreated wood.
Related Reading: 5 Easy DIY Cucumber Trellis Ideas
Pallet Trellis from Lovely Greens
Do you use pallets around your home and garden? I would love to hear about any other DIY projects you have used whole pallets with!
If you enjoyed this post check out How to Make a Quick Pallet Shelter and How to Make a Pallet Barn!
We live on a farm and ofcourse have pallets around. We load our hay on them to keep hay off the ground and air circulating.
Recently,I decided we needed to think about replacing a gate. Hubby want to keen to make one, so I said ” For heaven’s sake, just see if we have a pallet that’ll fit the space. We have latches and hinges”. That’s exactly what he did. Didn’t take the pallet apart, just stuck hinges abd a bolt on there and bingo!! I love it, the dogs can’t get through to the ‘ No dog area’, and can’t wriggle through.
I really enjoy reading the DIY projects and comments. Thanks
This is so clever! I would love to make something one day… ~ Renee
Anyone have a pattern or directions to make a pallet bar?
I used 2 half pallets to make a bar a few years ago…I wish I had a picture but I gave it to a friend a year ago…I just used dundage in each corner for the legs…a half pallet for the top and the other halfway for a shelf
Search YouTube- there are many talented carpenters/ woodworkers who specialize in recycling pallet wood into many different projects. In fact Epic UpCycling YT Channel has a step by step video of a pallet bar build
Great ideas! Pinned:)
This are awesome projects. Love the Tool Organizer, so easy and effective! Thank you for sharing!
These are great! I’m so fascinated by pallets!
Super cool. I love the tool organizer and the garden trellis. :)
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Many good ideas here. Just a word of caution when using pallets to support hay feeders, as jugs for lambing or kidding, or for any other livestock application, be sure that the spaces between the slats of the pallets are narrow enough so that small hooves can’t get stuck between them. Best to set up the pallets with the slats in a vertical position. If a lamb or kid gets a hoof in between the slats, it will be easier to pull back out without injury.
Your creations are great! We made a pallet tool holder and an outdoor pallet table.
Love the trellis and tool organizing ideas. I’ll be using those. We actually used pallets to help build a garden shed and then my husband made a flat bed wagon to pull behind our riding mower.
what a great list! We built a couple of pallet containers to grow potatoes in this year.
I really love the trellis! I think that might have to be a project for next year!
Love your ideas. Here are some of mine:
We are going to add a 3-sided sheep shelter for winter. We have free corrugated tin for sides to block winter wind and rain. We, too, store our hay bales on pallets in the hay barn.
Next, we will build a new greenhouse, a tool rack or 2 and a hay rack/feeder..
We’ve already built a compost bin and A-frame shelters (2 plastic-covered pallets) for free range chickens to use during daytime rain or to hide from predators. Chickens also enjoy a “playground” of pallet hills and tunnels. Just be sure you can reach in to get hidden eggs.
We have covered pallets with stapled plastic or landscape fabric, leaned them, filled with good composted soil and planted for 1) an herb garden, 2) a succulent garden, 3) a trailing flower garden.
My potato barrels are feed sacks supported and protected by pallets.
Keep those ideas flowing!
I love these ideas . . . I’m bookmarking them for my first projects next spring :)
Thank you,
Great ideas! Found you on Homesteaders Blog Hop… keep it up!
Fun ideas! We made a chicken shed from pallets that we took apart this summer and then we fenced in a chicken run with pallets that we left together. Currently we are working to tear apart enough pallets to use for a wood floor in our house. It is a lot of work but good exercise. I really like the bean trellis idea.
Hopefully you are using a reciprocating saw it is so easy that way
and you get no split wood and every piece is usable
My mom and step dad did that and it came out really beautiful. They rented a floor sander from a big box tool store. You really do want to rent a floor sander and seal it because they got splinters because they didn’t sand it good enough.
I’m loving this blog with all of your gardening tips! I am completely in love with pallets and am looking for ideas to start some projects for next spring. I’m definitely pinning this post and saving your blog for future reference since I want to start a garden. Thanks!
Pallets are so handy. We made our compost bin with them. This is a great list of ideas.
Thanks for sharing with us at The HomeAcre Hop!
~Ann
I love pallet projects! You’ve used them in great ways!! I’m working on one now for wall art. :)
This is one of my favorite posts on a blog! I would actually be able to use all of these ideas. thanks so much
I’m using palles to build a 16×20 green house and raised beds currently
Tom,
I would be interested in knowing the details of how you built your green house and how you used the pallets for raised beds. Please email me with how you did this or where you found the idea!
Thanks,
Jan
Oh, and my email is [email protected]. Thanks!
I would also love to have the details as well for your green house.Thanks for sharing your idea!
I recently did the research and found a tool called ( pallet paw) I purchased it on ebay for 50.00…it’s a very well built tool and if you can believe it I’m able to break down an entire pallet in under 5 minutes and do it without damaging the wood ..since I picked up the tool I’ve made tables, wishing wells , windmills etc. As stated trying to take a pallet apart is difficult and usually damages the wood beyond repair but with the paw it’s easy work.
I used pallets for raised beds as well. Found the idea on pintrest. What I found though, is that you need to add dirt and then wait a month. The dirt settles and there is a lot less in there than you would think. So add some more dirt before planting seeds! I also used pallets for fencing and to build a chicken coop! What a great way to use something that otherwise businesses have to pay to dispose of!
This is only about 6 years later but, I asked my husband to make a couple of Christmas trees for me. He did a beautiful job!
I needed to build a fence in my back yard and did not want to buy lumber, so I picked up pallets where I could find them and built my fence. The only thing I had to purchase was my 4×4’s. It looks great and is very sturdy.
They would make great fences for animals…….
What a great list of ideas. You are so creative. Thanks for spurring us on with these ideas.
Rhonda, thefarmerslamp.com
i read another place they took a sawsall and used a 12 inch blade that it will cut thru wood and nails tried it it works great if you need wood from pallets
I would also like to know where you got the idea of a greenhouse? Very good ideas I like this pallet projects.
Great ideas, we built a pallet fence and placed plastic milk containers with lids pierced and bottoms removed upside down into the top slits in the pallet top, we are growing, pakchoi , spring onions, purple frills cabbages etc in them, as well as many trailing and upright flowers. We have also planted up small flower pots and these fit into the slots and are supported by their rims. The planting is high enough to work comfortably and not so accessible to slugs etc.
We’ve also screwed four into a square, lined it with cardboard, filled wth soil and used as a raised planter, works well.
I used to be a cement ttruck driver, now I am a legally blind woodworker, After I lost 98% of my sight I couldn’t driver anymore and I wanted something to do so I got some pallets and started making all kinds of wood crafts, the cost was affordable mostly just had to supply the time and that I now have plenty of, you would be surprised of how much you can do with pallets, when I had my sight I couldn’t even sharpen a pencil right let alone be a wood worker, so I just want to tell those who retire or for some reason can’t work no longer that making things from pallets is a fun thing to do and your not out a lot of money if you make a mistake just out of time. Hope you find something to do with pallets, Pinterest has many ideas for you. be safe, have fun.
Used the pallet tool organizer idea! Now my husband thinks I’m a Genius 😂 Great Ideas!!!