Making a Raised Planter Box with Wheels

This project shows how we made an elevated vegetable planter box for our balcony. Watch the YouTube video below or read on for step by step instructions!

We purchased several planks of regular pine one by six (1” x 6”) boards from our local home improvement store. After mapping out the best cut list, we set up stop blocks to make the repetitive cuts, then adjusted for different dimensions.

There are definitely different types of wood better suited for planter boxes like cedar, but these were readily available, affordable and what we ultimately decided to use.

Our overall dimensions were 33” tall 64” long and 18”deep.

After cutting all of the boards to length, we used 120 grit sandpaper and cleaned up all the wood.

To make the legs, we opted to use pocket holes to attach two boards to make an “L” shape.

It was reinforced with wood glue to make sure we have a strong base.

We then assembled the sides using the smaller cuts to make an overall width of 18”.

We predrilled and screwed using exterior screws.

After both sides were done, we attached the longitudinal runners in the same fashion.

Running across the length of these runners, we drilled a 1” x 1” support along the length at a slight angle in order to let water flow toward the drain shown in the steps below.

Since this gardening box is on our balcony, we wanted it to be relatively portable.

We chose 2” casters, but we found that the attaching method and the diameter of the casters were not ideal to our design.

Lessons Learned: To improve this design, we would use the off cuts to “box in the bottom of the legs using pocket holes and glue. Then we would attach a slightly larger caster (possible 3”) using all 4 mounting holes.

We cut one of our 1 x 6” wood planks along the length to make a 1” x 2” runners to make a shelf on the bottom.

We set the planks to line the bottom floor of the garden bed.

These are just fastened with exterior screws.

Having the floor runners at a slight angle, we drilled a hole on the bottom of the lowest slat and made a relief to fit this 1” PVC elbow.

Using five minute epoxy, we just glued the elbow in place.

To finish off the box, we sealed it with boiled linseed oil.

Covering the interior of the box with plastic liner to prolong the life of our planter box.

Now we fill with soil and plant some vegetables.

We love how this project turned out. It was a fun and easy weekend DIY project!

We planted lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and green onions for now! We’d love to add spinach and other veggies to our patch too. Stay tuned to see how our veggies do!