Backyard Planters

Today I'll show you some planters that we built for the deck.  Our deck is not very exciting (yet), but my biggest problem at this point is that it has no railing, and a steep step down to the grass below.  Until we are able to put something better in, I thought we could use planters to add some beauty and keep people from walking off the edge...

I followed these plans from This Old House with a few changes.  First, I changed the dimensions to what we needed, and two, I made this out of wood, not PVC.  We had some scrap beadboard laying around that I could use, and PVC was going to be waaaay too expensive anyway, especially since I wanted 3 of them (sorry, Norm...)!

We built these 3 years ago, so the details are a little fuzzy, but we basically followed the plans.  I would recommend building the legs a little differently than they do in the plans if you are not going to make them out of PVC, simply because joining them with screws was a little difficult when the directions are made for PVC glue.  I would make the legs out of a 2x2 or 4x4 post, depending on how big you want the planters to be.

When we put in the bottom boards (TOH step #9), we left some space between each board for drainage.  Once we were finished, I lined the inside with garden fabric so that the soil wouldn't fall out.  

Here is the un-finished version:

 

I finished this with a grey stain, which I applied lightly and then rubbed off with a rag before it dried.  I wanted them to look weathered, and I think the grey stain did the trick!

Here it is after a year, and full of flowers!

                 

 
... and 2 years later!