Planters advice...

Hi all,

I'm looking for a little advice.

This weekend I am planning on building a planter around our patio. Our patio is about 1.2 feet off the ground and we have toddler...so this is basically to stop him swan diving off the patio onto the concrete below.

At the moment I am thinking I will use decking boards. Maybe two wide and about 60cm tall.

I'm need help with a few things:

1. As these will be kind of tall, what is the best way to fit a false bottom into these?
2. What is the best way to line them so I can put soil/plants in?
3.What would be the best way to fix them into place? So when my toddler runs into them, they don't just fall off the edge.

Many thanks in advance for the help.

 

"Maybe two wide and about 60cm tall."
I do not understand your description? It doesn't tell us anything about the shape or how it will be constructed. Stuff we need to know to answer your questions #1 and #3.

Planters don't need to be lined. All it is is a box holding dirt. Any excess water can leak out through the gaps between the boards. If you line it you probably need to include some method of drainage which can complicate lining. If you want to line it you can use galvanized steel, plastic, vinyl pond liner...

 

In this state, a deck that high requires a perimeter railing everywhere except the steps with 3 spindles per foot minimum. Falling into anything dense from that height will impart a hurt. Where are you located?

 

So that would be around 24" tall by 10-11" wide, maybe a bit narrow but not sure what you are planting.

Composite is a good material but would be a bit weak supporting heavy wet soil without adequate support. I would consider making some internal joists out of PT wood and attaching the composite to that. You probably don't want water and dirt flowing out of all the joints so you could line with heavy plastic adding holes on the bottom for drainage.

 

Thanks Marq1. That is really helpful.

It is a balance between getting it wide enough and not filling the entire patio with planters.

 

Beezlebob, I'm in the UK.

 

Pilot Dane.

Yeah sorry. I'm looking to make them fairly ling and thin. There are doing to be 4 of them, each differing in their size really. Height wise I am aiming for 60 cm, but width I will either use 2 or 3 planks at the bottom to determine the width.