I'm in the process of putting together a frame to hold a series of hanging gardens (assorted vegetables and fruits and need to come up with something that will handle the weight load without too much difficulty. We currently have these hanging from an eave of a utility shed, but are not getting good sunlight in that area and I don't think the wood used for the shed is enough to hold the total number of plants anyway.
I've come up with a simple plan that I think will be sufficient for our needs and will be located in an open area of our backyard on cement slab. I'll be building it out of pressure treated 2x4s and decking screws and the unit measures 96 inches high (4 vertical 2x4s) and roughly 48inches square.
Each of the planters weighs between 20-30 lbs depending on dirt load and plant, and hangs from a heavy-duty eye-hook screwed into the frame.
I'm concerned it may be top-heavy, but am assuming that the 2x4s are sufficient to hold the load.
My biggest question is should I be looking at something more like an A-Frame approach or is this 'box' frame sufficient?
Do I need to worry about mounting this in some fashion to the ground?
Here's a mockup:
Best Answer
To add stability you could use 2x6 members for the cross pieces along the bottom. Then cover the bottom with a half of a sheet of plywood. Pour concrete into the box thus formed at the base by the 2x6's and plywood.
You could get by without having to go all the way to full angle braces across the sides (which would get in the way of your hanging plants anyway) by installing some gussets made of thin plywood as shown below:
At a suitable size these would probably come right up to where the first hanging pot wires go.
I see that you have each corner made of just one 2x4. I would encourage you to make the corners out of two 2x4's attached in an L shape in each corner. This will go a long ways toward making the unit a good bit sturdier and will also make the cross bars on two of the sides have a whole lot more wood to bolt into.
I would echo that the proper fasteners for this structure are going to be 1/4" or 5/16" diameter carriage bolts as opposed to screws or nails.