Make Your Own DIY Rolling Garden and Plant Shelf

These DIY rolling shelves are a perfect way to create a vertical herb garden with plant decor for indoor or outdoor use! Plus, you can move it easily for more or less sun, or from inside to outside or to change up your garden area. I’m sharing all of my how-to’s in this post, which is sponsored by Miracle-Gro and Bonnie Plants.

We’ve been slowly transforming the inside of our home, and okay, working on the outside as well, but just haven’t done quite as much outdoors yet. Not like our kitchen transformation and of course, the bedrooms and the main bathroom… but we’re getting there!

Okay, in all honestly, we have almost too many projects swirling at once that it’s kind of hard to call one finished because we keep dividing our time between areas. And lately? With the weather turning sweetly sunny and pleasant, we’ve been wanting to spend more time outside the walls of our home, meaning outdoor projects are quickly moving up the priority list.

While I have big plans for our yard and a goal for raised garden beds and lots of vegetables in the near future, I’ve also been wanting some vertical shelves on our patio area for some of our most favorite veggies and herbs. I mean, there is nothing like fresh-picked basil on pasta or cilantro from the stem for taco night! The idea was to create a simple space for the kids to learn the responsibility of caring for and tending to a garden by helping me plant, water, pick fresh herbs for our dinners, and enjoy the greenery (and chewing on a fresh mint leaf) while we’re out romping in the pool.

Our DIY hanging herb garden that we created at our studio has been immensely popular, both on Pinterest and also with everyone that comes through our space. This time, though, I wanted something that I could move, something much more versatile.

With our new rolling garden shelves, I can easily move our plants inside during inclement weather, into more full sun or into shade, and I can use different sizes of pots and planters. Plus, with an area to hang planters as well, it all gives me a good deal of versatility.

Although I don’t have the greenest of thumbs, I have learned that plants need a plenty dose of good sunlight, hydration, and nutrients to thrive, and that’s what I’ve planned out with this space.

For the shelving unit itself, I drew up the concept and my husband built it! You’ll find his easy-to-follow instructions below.

When it comes to the plants, I picked up everything I needed at Walmart. There was such a large selection of Bonnie vegetable plants and herbs to choose from, so we started with our favorites to get us going! Since this project calls for container gardening (basically our plants are in pots and containers) I went with Miracle-Gro® Potting Mix (and because I’m not yet fluent in gardening, I just checked out their website to determine the best soil to use!).

Even if you haven’t had success in gardening before, I think that finding brands that help make it easy on us is a must! Miracle-Gro is American-made and has proven to help grow plants 2x as big as unfed plants (seriously – they’ve tested it). Plus, they’ve got a site that is packed full of tips to ensure that we create the garden we have in mind with success.

Since everything I used for the planting is available at Walmart, you can order all of the items online or head into the Walmart Garden center on your next run.

How We Planted Our Herb Container Rolling Garden

Now for the planting! I actually found a few different types of containers to use as I liked the idea of variety on our shelves. It’s easy to find terra cotta pots, and you can add in other vintage pieces or favorites you’ve had. Even using items that weren’t intended to be a plant container gives a great look! Just make sure that there are drainage holes, or add them yourself as needed.

I also had a little helper for this project, and I love how much she loved it! I even picked up some gardening gloves to fit little hands (we all need to feel special, right?). Because the project is a way to involve my kids in gardening, it’s only fitting that they help get it started, too.

With all the gear gathered, it was time to get started, but before I did any of the potting, I placed containers around on the shelves and set the plants into the different containers to find the configuration I liked best. During this step, it’s also important to keep in mind the rule of thumb for herb containers, which is to make sure the pot is at least one-third as tall as the final height of the herb listed on the plant tag. (If basil grows to 18 inches, for example, the pot should be at least 6 inches high.)

Then, I just followed the directions on the plant tag to pot each herb, using Miracle-Gro Potting Soil. 

How We Built the Rolling Garden Shelving

Item list:

1″ x 10″ x 10′ foot wood board

18 – 1/2” iron pipe flanges

2 – 1/2″ iron pipe 90-degree elbows

8 – (threaded each end)

3 – (threaded each end)

4 – rolling casters

2 – 48 qty 5/8” screws

Directions:

1. Cut the 1x10x10 board into 3 pieces at 40” long. Sand down board corners and edges as preferred.

2. Wash and paint PVC, flanges and iron pipe fittings. (We opted for a matte black spray paint).

3. Stain wood.

4. After all parts are dried, attach flanges at each end of the 10” irrigation PVC pipes. Make 8 total; these will serve as legs between our shelves. 

5. Add elbow to the other end of the pipes with a flange.

6. Using your remaining 5ft pipe, attach to the elbows, forming a horseshoe shape with the three 5′ pipes and set aside.

7. To start the shelves, we will build from the bottom and work our way up. Choose which side of board will face down and attach casters with screws on each corner at 1/2″ from each edge. 

8. Once the casters are attached to the bottom, flip board over and attach a flange with 10” PVC to all four corners. Screw into place to hold securely.

9. Place another board down on the ground or working table, and taking your assembled piece, flip back upside down on top of the board. Secure the flanges to that board with screws to hold in place.

10. Continue these steps of attaching the flanges to create the shelving. These instructions will give you three shelves, but you can add more as desired.

11. To create the hanging bracket, assemble a flange to one end of two 36” PVC pipes. Add elbows to the remaining 36” PVC pipe. Next, attach the two 36” PVC pipes that have a flange end to the elbows. This will form a horseshoe shape. 

12. Center the flanges of your horseshoe and attach to the top-side of your top shelf. 

Congratulations you now have a portable shelving unit to use for your rolling garden (or anything else)!

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DIY Rolling Garden and Plant Shelf

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Materials

• 1" x 10" x 10' foot wood board
• 18 - 1/2” iron pipe flanges
• 2 - 1/2" iron pipe 90-degree elbows
• 8 - 10”x 1/2" PVC riser (threaded each end)
• 3 - 36”x 1/2" PVC riser (threaded each end)
• 4 - rolling casters
• 2 - 48 qty 5/8” screws

Instructions

1. Cut the 1x10x10 board into 3 pieces at 40” long. Sand down board corners and edges as preferred.

2. Wash and paint PVC, flanges, and iron pipe fittings. (We opted for matte black spray paint).

3. Stain wood.

4. After all parts are dried, attach flanges at each end of the 10” irrigation PVC pipes. Make 8 total; these will serve as legs between our shelves. 

5. Add elbow to the other end of the pipes with a flange.

6. Using your remaining 5ft pipe, attach to the elbows, forming a horseshoe shape with the three 5′ pipes and set aside.

7. To start the shelves, we will build from the bottom and work our way up. Choose which side of the board will face down and attach casters with screws on each corner at 1/2" from each edge. 

8. Once the casters are attached to the bottom, flip board over and attach a flange with 10” PVC riser to all four corners. Screw into place to hold securely.

9. Place another board down on the ground or working table, and taking your assembled piece, flip back upside down on top of the board. Secure the flanges to that board with screws to hold in place.

10. Continue these steps of attaching the flanges to create the shelving. These instructions will give you three shelves, but you can add more as desired.

11. To create the hanging bracket, assemble a flange to one end of two 36” PVC risers. Add elbows to the remaining 36” PVC riser. Next, attach the two 36” PVC pipes that have a flanged end to the elbows. This will form a horseshoe shape. 

12. Center the flanges of your horseshoe and attach to the top-side of your top shelf. 

Recommended Products

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• 1/2 in. x 10 in. PVC Riser
• 1/2 in. x 36 in. PVC Riser

Did you make this project?

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