INTRODUCTION

Looking for better ways to grow your garden? Trellises, Planters & Raised Beds has a whole bookful of them. In the following pages you’ll find plans, ideas, inspirational photos, how-to instructions, and practical advice simple enough for a beginner to understand, but also varied and creative enough for experienced gardeners to find useful. You’ll learn how to build time-tested designs for trellises, planters, and raised beds that look good and work well in any garden, but you’ll also be exposed to the fertile imaginings of numerous gardeners and woodworkers who’ve found ways to transform standard, home-center materials into eye-catching garden structures that bring out the best in plants and flowers.

Getting started is easy, whether you’re looking for a way to bring some green to a tiny porch or apartment terrace (check out Bamboo Bundle, page 90, or the Mini Planter on page 81), trying to start a small-scale vegetable farm to avoid the cost and plastic flavor of supermarket produce (see Lettuce Table, page 154, and Utility Raised Bed, page 158), or searching for something that your climbing plants can climb besides the house siding and each other (just about anything in the Trellises chapter will work). Most of the projects can be built with a saw, a drill, and basic hand tools, although a few don’t need even that minimal tool kit, and can be put together with just a pair of hands and a shovel (Rock Garden, page 161; Raised Bed Kits, page 152). No matter what your skill level is, you’ll find plenty of projects in this book that you can make, projects that will look great out in your garden or in your home—all with clear how-to photos and easy-to-follow instructions.

Trellises, Planters & Raised Beds is organized into three chapters, with each chapter having enough projects to select from that you won’t have any trouble finding the right one for your garden. Some are shovel-ready—just pick up some materials at the home center and start building. Others require more prep time. For instance, stick trellises require that you collect suitable branches or saplings, and finding the right pallet for the pallet planter may require a few expeditions to your local warehouse district. A few of the projects are meant mostly for inspiration: grab a few ideas and then build your own version someday. But whether you’re looking for step-by-step instructions, useful tips, and techniques, or just fodder for off-season daydreams, you’ll find what you need inside.