I had calculated that I would need a total of twenty lengths of 4″ x 4″ x 8′ pretreated lumber and twelve lengths of half inch by six foot rebar. The rebar would be cut in to three to provide two foot lengths to pin the lumber in to place. I already had a spare can of the green wood preserve so I’m going to use that up first before purchasing anymore, afterall it was my mother-in-laws budget and I was trying to get the job done at the best price possible. As far as my labor cost, that’s a no brainer, that’s traded off by looking after the children! Once complete there will be some kind of oil based stain that will cover the whole construction but the tone or color can be decided upon later.

With the materials in tow and a selection of power tools, chop saw, electric drill and numerous hand tools my first job was to map out the boundary of the planter box. The patch of land behind the mobile home was pie shaped to a certain degree meaning that the planter box could be slightly wedged shaped so as to reduced the effect of the angle on the remaining land between the mobile home and the planter box. I needed to know to what degree the angle would be and the person best qualified to decide that would be my mother-in-law, afterall when all is complete she would have to live with the end result.

The block wall that seperated the mobile home estate from her trailer was approximately eight feet tall with a concrete base that spread loosely below. This in effect reduced the growing room so we had to make sure that there was enough soil at ground level at the small end of the wedge so that the plant roots could travel deeper if required. Another requirement was to leave enough room between the planter box and the mobile home, so the placement of the first stake would be at this critical point. With string attached to the first stake, the second stake position and angle of the planter would be determined by the taut string once hammered into place.

Now that alignment was set I could remove any soil that would hinder the placement of the first 4″ x 4″ and continue to a length of twenty feet or two and a half lengths. I then cut the corresponding lengths that would tie into the block wall, these had to be cut a little short due to the foundation concrete that spilled out from underneath. The next five layers were cut block wall style, overlaying each seam to strengthen the total constuction with no vertical seams.

With all the layers of the first planter box in position I had to drill the first set of holes that would pin the construction into place. The rebar was of half an inch in diameter therefore I would drill holes of 5/8″ to allow slight misalignment as I drilled through the layers. The spade bit would drill through the four inch thickness and index to the next layer whereas I would remove the top layer and continue with the drilling until the full six layers had been drilled.

Starting from the bottom layer each level was restacked using lengths of rebar to align each set of holes. As the levels got higher I was finding that the clearance hole of 5/8″ was coming into its own. By the time the sixth layer was set in place the rebar had to be hammered down to fully secure the sections and finally sledgehammered the additional length of rebar into the soil to give it a solid construction.

With the rebar fully hammered home the rebar was punched below the surface of the wood by approximately one inch so that a plug could be inserted to give a finished appearance. This was simply 5/8″ dowel rod cut to length and hammered in to complete the look.

With the main planter box in place I could turn my attention to the secondary planter, this would consist of only three boards high giving enough depth to house tomato plants. The totally length for this box would be twelve feet and adopting the same procedure the construction went smoothly with no major problems. The green colored timber eventually gained a stain that would give it a redwood color and blended it nicely with the block wall to the rear.

I found that even though the rebar had been set to a good depth there was still a little movement in the planter boxes but once back filled with the remaining soil it placed enough pressure to eliminate any movement. I knew that I still had to place flagstone and this would account for two to three inches in depth with the levelling sand, locking in the bottom board.

Since starting this project the planter boxes have remained in good shape and the only movement is with the plugs that cover the rebar tips, these have moved just 1/8″ proud of the main surface which I put down to soil movement and swelling of the wood due to moisture.

My next step is to build the arbor that will adjoin the privacy fencing that allows the rear of the coach to be that more private.

Mobile homes have come a long way and this one at barely 10 years old has all that you could get in a regular house except “it’s mobile” you can put it on a trailer and move it to where you want. Anyway, I don’t know too much about mobile homes so I’ll get on and we’ll talk about the plans that we came up with on the yard.

The first priority was she wanted a small raised planter that would give enough ground to plant tomatoes and perennial flowers. The rest would be colored pavers and rock to minimize the amount of maintenance required together with ornamental flower pots. The side of the property would be rock with strategically place pavers, flower pots and an arbor with a gate that would lead to the somewhat private back yard. This was all quickly sketched out on a piece of paper but the details would be left to me and as I have said in previous posts, providing you do have an idea the details will come as the job progresses.

This mobile home was situated on a plot that had an east west aspect, that is, the front was facing west so the sun would stream in the front at late afternoon. The back where the planter will be situated will have sunlight during the first half of the day before falling into shadow. The main concern was not having enough sunlight for the plants but there was little option for anything else, this was the only place it could go. A raised planter would give a little additional light to the plants before succumbing to the late afternoon shadow so we had to decide on how tall it would be.

We had though about using regular block work for the retaining wall but something a little more rustic was required especially as it had to fit in with the privacy panels that would be erected at a later stage. Railway ties were another good option but on inspection these were chewed up pretty bad and way too wide for our requirement. We didn’t have the necessary real estate on one side as it was down to four or five feet from the coach to the back wall so the retaining wall had to be made with material of six inches or less to give a good balance between walkway and planter.

I was hoping to use railway ties because of the weight and by pegging them together it would create a stable fixture but the alternative I had decided on was to use pretreated construction lumber and rebar to pin them in place.

The first process was to cut back the soil on the two sides of the mobile home that would have the rock and pavers. This required a depth of four inches so most of the earth was shoveled to the back of the mobile home to be used in filling the planter but you can imagine how much soil is created from a 40′ x 6′ and 30′ x 6′ area let alone the amount of effort on my part to cut down to the four inch depth. You may be asking why not hire someone to do the donkey work but as the total plan had not been formulated it would be hard to get a fixed price and at the same time I’m getting plenty of exercise. As the amount of soil was gradually building up it was plain to see that a truck would be needed to haul aleast two thirds of it away, leaving just enough for the planter.

This hard labor took three full weekends to establish the foundation for the project but now with the soil cut back I could estimate how much lumber would be needed. It was decided to use 4″ x 4″ pretreated eight foot lengths of pine and half inch rebar to pin the sections in place. The height of the planter would be a full six sections giving it a total height of 21″ a nice height that you could also use as a seat. The rebar to retain this structure in place would be half inch diameter and 36″ long giving 16″ of steel pounded into the soil every couple of feet along the length of the structure. I figured that with the planter built Lego style and rebar to anchor it into position the force of the soil would complete the rigidity. So with the plan in place it’s time to purchase the materials.