Slimline Planter Box with Trellis

The Slimline is built for the spots a normal garden bed can't go — a side path, a balcony, a courtyard, along a fence line. At 40cm wide it tucks into space you'd otherwise waste, and it's made from the same MCA treated pine as the rest of our range.

How does the watering work?

Each box is built around the Northcote Pottery 76cm self-watering trough. The trough drops into the timber on a slatted floor and its rim finishes flush with the top of the box, so all you see is timber. The reservoir underneath keeps your plants going between waterings, which matters on a hot balcony where ordinary pots are dry by lunchtime.

The 81cm box takes one trough and the 157cm takes two. Add the troughs to your order or use your own — the box looks finished either way.

It takes any pot you like. The base is slatted rather than solid, so anything that fits the opening sits in it and drains straight through — use the pots you have already got, or line up a few smaller ones along the length. It is built to fit the Northcote trough snugly though: the opening is sized to it within a couple of millimetres and the trough rim finishes flush with the timber, so that combination reads as one piece of furniture rather than a box with a pot sitting in it.

Is this a wicking bed?

Yes, in miniature. A wicking bed keeps a reservoir of water underneath the soil and lets the mix draw it up from below, so roots drink at their own pace instead of you guessing with a hose. That is exactly how these self-watering troughs work — top up the reservoir and the mix wicks moisture up for days. Same principle as a full-size wicking garden bed, just in a trough you can lift out and wash.

Which height should I pick?

• 40cm — low and tidy. Suits balconies, decks and courtyards, and it won't block a window or a view.
• 80cm — standing height, so there's no bending or kneeling to pick your herbs.

What does the growing trellis do?

The trellis is an extension of the back legs, built the same way as the trellis on our raised garden beds: two long legs, galvanised climbing mesh in 20cm squares, and a timber pot shelf across the top. It stands 1.64m off the ground — room for beans, peas, cucumbers or a jasmine screen — and the shelf up top holds a couple of small pots.

The trellis is available on the 40cm height only, and that is a stability call rather than a style one: stand a 1.6m trellis on top of an 80cm box this narrow and it gets top-heavy, which is not what you want in a windy courtyard or on a balcony. So we do not build it. If you are after a trellis at standing height, our raised garden beds with a trellis are wider through the base and carry one properly.

Sizes

• Compact: 81cm long × 40cm wide — 1 self-watering trough
• Large: 157cm long × 40cm wide — 2 self-watering troughs
• Heights: 40cm or 80cm to the rim
• Inside the Compact: 76cm long, 28cm wide, 24cm deep to the slatted base
• Inside the Large: 152cm long, 28cm wide, 24cm deep to the slatted base
• With the growing trellis: 1.64m overall height

What's it built from?

Arsenic free MCA treated pine — the same timber, the same board and rail profiles and the same galvanised cup-head coach bolts as our raised garden beds. Nothing flimsy, nothing you'll be re-tightening in a year. Add a set of protective feet if it's going on a deck or pavers and you'd rather the timber wasn't sitting in water.

How does it arrive?

Built in our Lawnton workshop, delivered and put in place for you across South East Queensland. It turns up finished — you do not lift a thing, and there is nothing to put together.

A slim, good looking, properly built way to grow herbs, salad greens, flowers or a leafy screen, even where space is tight.