As our outside comes together, I’ve been furiously planting.  Almost 60 assorted plants over our property in the last few weeks.  Which spurred me to add a dose of life next to the front door.

With an 8 foot tall door, I wanted something taller, to not look dwarfed by the oversized door.  A small tree would have been gorgeous, but I didn’t want to block the doorbell.  After thinking about it, I might try a dwarf fruit tree.  We’ll see.  Before building this planter box, I looked at local nurseries, hardware, and home improvement stores but didn’t see any taller planters I liked.  DIY to the rescue.  Using four 8 foot long 2 by 4s and scrap 2 by 2 strips, I built a modern square planter box.

Before building, I decided I wanted a 17 inch square box six boards (21 inches) tall.  To start, I cut twelve boards into 17 inch lengths.  With the butt end design, opposite sides are the same length, but the adjacent pieces are shorter to fit between.  For the design to be square, I cut twelve more sections at 14 inches long (the overall size minus two 2 by 4 widths).

Based on my finished height of 21 inches, I cut four 20 inch tall 2 by 2 pieces to secure the corners to.  I didn’t want see the nails or the corners once filled.  Working on a flat surface with a square, I set my pieces together and nailed 16 gauge 2 inch long finish nails from the inside, through the 2 by 2, into the 2 by 4.  Much like hardwood flooring, getting the first row straight or in this case, square, makes subsequent rows go smoothly.

From there, adding boards, rotating the exposed ends is the name of the game.

I love the simple interest the staggered exposed ends add.

Once finished, the corner posts are tucked an in below the rim and are easily covered.

Before staining, I smoothed out the rough lumber with 80 grit sandpaper, slightly rounding the corners at the same time.

Wanting to accent the exposed end detail, I stained the box light gray.  It darken the end grain just enough to really make it pop.  To create the base support, I nailed scrap wood flush with the top of the third board down.  Then used another scrap of 3/4 inch material for the base, notching around the corner posts.  Sadly, I couldn’t find a square plastic hole-less liner to fit inside.  I improvised with four layers of thick plastic.  I really don’t want this leaking out and rotting the wood.

 

With the hard parts done, I got to fill it up with pretty plants my little helpers picked out.

Aromatic lavender, fuzzy lamb’s ear, a purple sweet potato vine, and a small basil plant.

With such a versatile design, I’d like to build a longer box to create a mini herb garden for our back deck.  The basil may get swapped to that one later on.  And at the end of the season, I can plant both the lavender and lamb’s ear in the ground.