This is a long over due post about a project to build four cedar planters for the back deck.

Planning

We were out on the deck, discussing flower arrangements and what we would put the flowers into. One option was to use some old plywood planters that I had built several years ago that had weathered and no longer looked that good. I did not want to repaint them and did not think they would look good on the deck.

I had made a couple smaller square planters out of cedar a couple years ago but we never used them. They would work but Jae also wanted some longer planters so I suggested making some longer cedar planters. She agreed, so I put together some simple plans for planters made out of cedar fence pickets.

Execution

The construction was not complicated but because I was making four planters there was a lot of cutting and assembly. I called a buddy who likes to work on these types of projects and he spent the day in the garage with me, cutting and assembling.

After cutting all of the boards, we assembled the planters using waterproof glue and brad nails. On that first day we got the base planters finished but I was missing boards that I needed for the trim.

A couple days later, I got the boards and then finished the trim work. The final step was to stain them to match the deck. One drawback of using fence pickets is that they are not kiln dried plus they are stored outside so they are usually very wet. I had to leave them in the garage for several weeks to dry out and then stained them.

Final Results

I am pleased with how the cedar planters turned out.

Cedar Planter
Cedar Planter, 1 of 4.

Inside the planter, there are side rails and cross bars to hold up the plastic trays for the flowers.

Cedar Planter
Cedar Planter from the side, showing the cross bars.

Because it took so long for them to dry out before I could stain them, I missed the planting season. It looks like I will need to find a place to store them out of the weather until next year.