DIY Cedar Planter Boxes with Trellis/Privacy Screen

My backyard has taken a backseat to all the DIY projects going on in the house. I’d like to blame the dismal state of my backyard on drainage issues, too much shade, snakes, etc., but the reason is mostly that the amount of work needed is unbelievably overwhelming. What I’ve decided to do is work on a small part of the yard that is an eyesore. The plan is to cover the eyesore using DIY cedar planter boxes with a trellis attached to the back.

Let’s talk a little about the eyesore. It’s a 30 year old retaining wall made out of railroad ties. These ties aren’t retaining much because they are rotted and crumbling apart. I’ve had a few quotes for a new retaining wall and it’s upwards of 20K, which is not in the budget right now. So, instead of staring at those ugly ties, my plan is to just cover them up. See no evil, right???

I have a couple of Pinterest boards for planters and trellis/privacy screen ideas that were the inspiration for my project. The boxes had to span the length of the retaining wall (24ft) and the trellis/screen needed to be varying heights because the retaining wall staggers down from about 5 ft to maybe 2 ft. Also, the boxes needed to be movable because I’m eventually going to have to do something about the retaining wall. The last and most important factor was that it needed to be cheap!

After calling around I found a local lumber yard that carried rough cut cedar boards. These are less expensive than what you would use for decking. Dad and I went and picked up several 2×8’s to make the boxes, 2×2’s for the slat supports, and 1×2’s for the slats. The slats will make a screen to cover the eyesore. All the wood for this project cost about $125.

The planter boxes are going to sit flush on a bed of gravel, so I wouldn’t necessarily call these raised. You can easily modify them to be raised off the ground if that is what you want. There are no fancy cuts for this project. Dad used some deck screws and we had 4 box frames in no time. We measured the planter boxes to fit the plastic inserts that I found at Home Depot. The inserts were $8 each and I needed 8.

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The plastic inserts are perfect for easy gardening and great for proper drainage. You can add soil and plant whatever you want in these containers. I’m going for something glow maintenance. These would make a great herb garden for a deck or patio as well.

I had to buy several bags of gravel and also added mulch with a couple of limelight hydrangea bushes above the railroad ties to pretty it up a bit.

It looks so much better already! You can see the difference a few plants can make in the before/after pics below.

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We had to move the planter boxes in place before adding the trellis to the back of them. It was easier than trying to measure the height. I needed to eyeball it from different vantage points around the yard.

At this point, we screwed the 2×2’s on the back of each planter as supports and then attached the 1×2’s leaving a small gap.

Each trellis section butts up to the other fairly evenly and we just worked our way down.

I’m really part of the construction crew here, but someone has to stop and take a picture every few minutes. Dad is busy trying to explain something to me here, as usual.

I added finishing pieces of 1×2’s to cover where the sections meet up. It looks so much better and you would never know that ugly railroad tie retaining wall is behind it. This is totally freestanding in front of the wall, so I don’t have to worry about moving it around if the need arises.

Here is what it looks like after adding the stain.

I used TWP Stain in Cedartone and it looks great. These should hold up nicely for years. The Mexican river rock was a nice addition after deciding that I didn’t like the look of the gravel. That was an extra expenditure, but it really makes everything look finished.

The stone has a more finished look than the gravel.

From this view you can see that the back of the trellis is not attached to the wall. The wall slopes a bit and the boxes would not sit flat if they were attached.

This was a super easy fix to an eyesore in the backyard. It ended up costing about $300 total including all the rock, but that is much better than paying 20K for a new retaining wall. Sometimes you have to sit back and evaluate what you really want from a DIY project and this was purely cosmetic for me. The wall was ugly and I didn’t like looking at it when we sat on the deck. Mission accomplished for this section. Now I’ve got to do something about the rest of the yard, but I’ll tackle it little by little until it’s done.

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