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Vegetable Garden Planner Reviews: Greg M.

Traditional Backyard Garden Plot Plan

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Greg grew most of his family’s food for the year in his backyard garden, building raised beds out of pallets and old shingles! See his garden layout plus some beautiful garden photos for ideas and inspiration.

 

Greg Morse from Bagley, Minnesota, created a large, 35x35-foot backyard garden using traditional rows and raised beds made out of pallets. His garden also included mobile pallet planters, drip irrigation, row covers, and a hoop house. As you can see from the photos Greg submitted, it’s been a very productive garden! He’d be happy to hear from other northern gardeners.

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Greg’s Vegetable Plot Plan

The raised beds were made out of shingle pallets cut in half, 20 inches in height. The rows and square-foot gardening were incorporated together, with lots of plasticulture used to extend the short northern growing season.

Vegetable layout designed with the Almanac Garden Planner. See his full plant list here!

garden plan

Greg’s Garden Photos!

raised bed pallet garden

raised beds in garden

plants growing in raised beds

raised beds made from pallets

raised beds overflowing with vegetables

raspberries, cucumbers, and cabbage harvested from garden

jars of pickles

boy standing next to raised garden bed

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Garden Layouts and Plans
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Pat Dyer</span> Mon, 05/26/2025 - 09:56
What are those teepee-like structures ? Are they there to protect young plants from animals ? To protect from too much sun ? I've never seen them before and they look interesting.
<span>Ivan Wain</span> Tue, 01/31/2023 - 06:17
Where did he get the soil to fill his beds??
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/catherine-boeckmann">Catherine Boeckmann</a> Thu, 02/02/2023 - 17:24

To fill those beds, you'd want a mix of compost and potting mix. Not soil for containers. Some cities have free local compost facilities. Or, many gardeners make their own compost at home. Or you can buy bags. If you have deep raised beds, it can get pricey, so you can put pottery or bricks or even recycled plastic jugs on the bottom of the bed if you don't need that much space for the roots of whatever you are growing. Here is a good article with video on how to use less potting mix to fill your beds. https://www.almanac.com/ways-use-less-potting-mix-fill-pots-and-raised-beds We also have a lot of articles on how to make your own compost. Use the search box at the top of this site!

 <span>Sandra Lincoln</span> Wed, 04/08/2020 - 07:34
Sure would have been nice to have a link on how to build these pallets into a garden. Beautiful design!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/catherine-boeckmann">Catherine Boeckmann</a> Thu, 02/02/2023 - 17:19

If interested, there are many articles on how to build raised beds (with pallets or other materials). Just go to the search box in our site and type in what interests you. Here is one good article: https://www.almanac.com/content/how-build-raised-garden-bed

 <span>Sharon</span> Fri, 04/03/2020 - 22:15
What mixture of soil, compost, etc. and ratio Is used in the vegetable plots?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/catherine-boeckmann">Catherine Boeckmann</a> Thu, 02/02/2023 - 17:24

No soil. Half compost, half potting mix.

 <span>Desiree</span> Fri, 04/03/2020 - 17:23
Hi, I was wondering how they dealt with the gaps between the wood planks of the pallets, didn't the soil escape through those gaps? Please let me know, I want to do this and I have plenty of pallets. Thank you!
<span>Doug Bryce</span> Tue, 01/31/2023 - 06:58
I made a similar bed a while back and stapled black plastic 4 mil sheeting to the inside to keep the dirt from falling out. It's hard to tell but looks like that's what he did.
<span>Susan</span> Wed, 02/27/2019 - 09:24
Does Greg line the sides of his boxes with plastic?