Milk bottle planter rack? Construction ideas help...

[1Bee]

I need your brains, please. I'm reasonably handy, but am not much good at coming up with construction ideas...

I want to build something like this for strawberries...



I've acquired a couple of metal bars, about 4 to 5 feet long and an inch wide, with holes for bolts (I also have a handful of rusty bolts for them) at each end. What can I put together to easily hang the bars on? I'd rather it was freestanding than on posts driven into the ground, but maybe that's not feasible? I don't have any suitable timber to hand.

Any ideas and suggestions welcome!

[Cadalot]

OK first things first does the metal bar actually go into the hole formed for the handle

Next like the photo you either have to have post and brackets the bar can slip into or make up brackets that can be fixed to fence posts or a wall.

There is a shortage of skyhooks in the UK

[fishpond]

Make a frame then hang hanging baskets off it.
Failing that use the very rare sky hooks as previously mentioned.

[Bigmallly]

Fasten some of these to a structure (shed etc) & hang the bars on them. Easy to slide milk bottle on & off.

Charlie Dimmock Tool Hooks 5 Pack - Gloves, Tools & Accessories - Gardening

[1Bee]

Yes! It fits! I did check that bit...

Sigh. Oh for sky hooks....

I can see this is going to involve me spending lots of time staring blankly at the contents of aisles in the DIY store. Then staring blankly at bits of timber and tools.

I wonder. We've got a Place Where Offcuts Go To Die behind the door in our utility room*. Maybe there's some ply hiding in there which I could cut up and cut holes in for the bars.... but then I don't think we have the right doohicky for cutting large diameter holes. And I'd still need some sort of post to mount the brackets on... and I have no idea what size would be right. *facepalm*

At all costs I must avoid Husband getting involved, as he tends to think he's more handy than he is, and we end up with things being 'done' but still unusable. And then I can't do anything with them, because they're 'done'.

And I have a phobia of power tools. Just saying. I can lay hedges, build dry stone walls, build fences and steps, but don't ask me to drill a hole because I end up hyperventilating.

*near where we have an entire oak door and casing, which is now surplus to requirements, but since it's original to the house, and thus around 250 years old, I CANNOT get rid of it.

[1Bee]

I like that Bigmal, a lot. But I'll still need to do something with posts, as I don't have a shed, wall, fence at the plot.

But I like those hooks...

[Lumpy]

How about small butchers hooks to hang the pots onto the rails. Fleabay sell then cheaply!

[Jungle Jane]

Could the metal posts be cemented into the ground & where the holes are,line up wooden batons & screw in,like a ladder & slide the pots on or attach something to the wood so it's removable?

[Martin H]

If you lay out all your available material on the ground and take a photo or two, I'm sure we can come up with lots of ideas. Like in the Apollo 13 film!

[1Bee]

I don't think I have anything available for mounting the horizontal metal bars onto, but it was a good idea.

[veggiechicken]

Hang the bar from a tree, like a trapeze?
Or your clothes line?
Or a market stall type clothes rack
Or a bathroom towel stand................

[veggiechicken]

Could you use a pallet to secure the hooks to?

[1Bee]

I'm liking those ideas, VC... I don't have any of those things but I can look out for them!

[vixylix]

Someone on here (I can't remember who!) used those black shoe holders you can get from 1kea and the like - https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rc...93382985809794

That will essentially do the same job and can just be hung up. You could probably even fit the milk bottles in there if you really wanted?

[Cadalot]

Vixylix

She would have trouble putting a hook up for the hanger