Several years ago, I saw a picture of a lettuce table in a magazine and knew it was something that I wanted to eventually make for myself. The idea appealed to both my green thumb and my crafty side. When I started writing my book, Raised Bed Revolution, I decided that this project had been lingering on my garden wish list for long enough. And a new book project provided the perfect opportunity to get my act in gear and finally build it.

The lettuce table has been a very popular DIY project. In my raised bed talks and interviews, I love describing how easy it was to make. When I started to write Gardening Your Front Yard, my second gardening book, I knew I wanted to include some type of lettuce table. I ended up designing a lettuce side table that you could display between a couple of chairs with an edge wide enough for a cup of tea. Despite being smaller, that one is definitely more complicated to put together.

What’s so special about this particular lettuce table?

Rather than just build a table from brand new lumber, like the original I saw, I wanted to add a little style to this DIY. Originally I was on the hunt for vintage legs (I was going to build a box to sit on top of them separately), but as I was strolling through an antique market not far from my home, I came across this lovely little vintage find. The vendor apologized and explained that the table’s top was not nailed down, but could easily be reattached.

I suspect the top and bottom were not originally a true pair, but I wasn’t bothered because the lack of a top was actually a bonus! It made it easier to come up with a plan to transform the old piece into my lettuce table. I had my vintage legs, but I also had a great frame to work from to make the container part.

Lettuces only need about four to six inches to grow, so this old table frame created the perfect depth for growing greens. I have successfully grown a number of greens in my lettuce table, including radicchio, arugula, lettuces (Red Sails and Lolla Rossa Darkness are favorites!), baby pak choy, kale, and amaranth. I love being able to snip my own salads!

Materials to upcycle a lettuce table

• An old wooden table frame with the top removed
• Work gloves
• Measuring tape
• Hardware cloth (plastic* or metal)
• Wire cutters, tin snips or heavy-duty scissors (depending on whether you’re using plastic or metal hardware cloth)
• Staple gun or small nails and a hammer
• Thin wood strips to reinforce and cover the hardware cloth edges
• Screws and impact or screw driver to secure the wood strips
• A saw to cut the wood strips, if using

Putting your DIY project together

Flip your table, minus the top, upside down. With work gloves on, stretch the hardware cloth the length of the table and cut to size. (Hardware cloth is like chicken wire, but with small square holes instead of bigger round ones.) You want it to overlap the wood so that you can really secure it in place. Gloves are necessary because the edges are sharp!

I used nails to hold metal hardware cloth in place. You could probably use a heavy-duty staple gun.

Thin wood strips not only reinforced the hardware cloth, it also covered the sharp edges. I used screws to secure these pieces to the table.

* A note about plastic hardware cloth: Plastic hardware cloth is great for smaller table projects. It tends to sag under the weight of the soil, so be mindful of this when creating a bigger table. You may want to use two layers to withstand the weight.

Planting your lettuce table

Once whatever type of mesh is in firmly in place, flip your table over and line it with landscape fabric. Fill with potting soil formulated for growing vegetables and you’re ready to plant!

A note on longevity: I created the table in 2015 and it lasted until 2025. Ten years isn’t so bad. This is about the lifespan of a raised bed built from cedar. I did store the table in my shed in winter, but there was probably a lot of dampness compared to if I stored it in my garage. Eventually it started to rot and fall apart.

More DIY inspiration

• Finding items you can upcycle for the garden
• Build a cold frame from an old window
• Turn an old washbasin into a raised bed
• Inexpensive raised bed ideas
• Build your own compost bin
• Use metal milk crates to build a pollinator palace