colorful d-i-y shipping pallet planters (w safe paints info)

colorful planters made of shipping pallets — photo: stacy k floral

Innovative uses for shipping pallets continue: here a play on shipping pallet gardens, painted bright colors and hung on a wall. In a post we wrote about how-to transform a shipping pallet into a vertical, layered garden, some readers brought up the question of food-safe paints for pallets that will house herbs, greens, nasturtiums and other edible plants. Kate Payne of Hip Girl’s Home (whose book we’re featuring in a giveaway) took the initiative and emailed the Old Fashioned Milk Paint folks, who make a completely non-toxic, zero VOC paint and sealant. Wrote Kate: “…air quality matters here, but so does sustained exposure to moisture and possible leaching, this is a great question!”

Here’s what she found out:

Milk paint is fine to use on raised beds. If you want to topcoat it however, you need to use a sealer designed for exterior use. Our Clear Coat is for interior use only. Perhaps a tung oil or a beeswax.

Here is a site that you might like to see that shows how to use milk paint:

If not topcoated, milk paint will spot white when it gets wet. Some people like this weathered look. If you want to use white, no spots will show.

The paint is not toxic and will not harm any plants.

…like these strawberry plants nestled into a blue-painted pallet.