Indoor Tower Planter

Keep your herbs close to the kitchen with this tiered planter, complete with growing lights.

What you Need
SA pine cut to:
6 x (390mm x 140mm x 20mm) (box front and back)
6 x (250mm x 140mm x 20mm) (box sides)
3 x (345mm x 140mm x 20mm) (box base)
4 x (1100mm x 45mm x 16mm) (legs)
2 x (320mm x 45mm x 16mm) (unit base)
20W COB LED grow lights, available from https://makelight.co.za
3 plastic tubs (340mm x 250mm x 70mm)
4mm x 30mm cut screws
Wood glue
Wood filler
4 castor wheels
Wood primer
Enamel paint

Tools
Pencil, tape measure, combination square, jigsaw, drill, countersink bit, sander or sanding block, paint brush.

What you do

1. Make up the three planter boxes by joining the front, back and sides, using glue and screws. Drill pilot holes before screwing them together, to prevent splitting, and be sure to countersink all the holes. The bottoms of the boxes aren’t going to be flush with the base, but inset to create a space for the lights. To do this, measure down 80mm from the top of each box and fix the box bases into place, using screws.

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2. Attach the legs to the sides of the planter boxes, 50mm in from the edges. The top of the top box should be flush with the top of the legs. The bottom of the bottom box should be 50mm up from the bottom of the legs. Space the middle box equally between the top and bottom boxes. Fix the legs in place with glue and screws, countersinking all the screw holes.

3. Turn the construction upside down and attach the wide side of the 320mm x 45mm x 16mm bases to the bottom of the legs using glue and countersunk screws.

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4. Fill all the screw holes with wood filler. Once dry, sand the whole unit down, round any sharp corners and smooth out the filler.

5. Apply a coat of wood primer. Once dry, apply two coats of enamel paint, allowing it to dry between coats.

6. Attach the castor wheels to the base of the unit once the paint has dried.

7. Fix the growing lights into the recesses of the top and middle boxes and run the wires neatly down the inside of a leg. If you need any help with them, or want to change the sizes of the lights, get hold of the experts at Make Light (https://makelight.co.za).

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8. Plant up the unit with a selection of the herbs you use the most and place it in your kitchen for easy access to fresh produce. We only planted the lower two boxes, and used the top one as storage.