How to Build a Hexagon DIY Planter Box
One of Ash’s favorite meals is a simple pot of rice and beans – but he gives it a little kick with a hot pepper called a wiri wiri pepper. It’s a Caribbean hot pepper, so it’s hard to find around here.
Luckily, Ash’s mom had a plant to give him. She was happy to pass it on because they were having trouble growing it in their soil.
That’s how the wiri wiri pepper plant on our fireplace came to be.
But here’s the ridiculous part – Ash didn’t have a planter around, so he looked around the garage and ended up planting it in a fishbowl. It’s even more ridiculous that the fishbowl wasn’t meant for fish – it was originally going to be a helmet for a robot scarecrow.
So, it was only a matter of time until I suggested a proper planter with some drainage, rather than the silly fishbowl. I was thinking we could make a collection of planters too, so I could plant some herbs. The wiri wiri pepper was growing really well on the fireplace, so why not try my hand at a little indoor garden.

How to Build a Hexagon DIY Planter Box
While thinking about a creative DIY planter box to make, I remembered how much our toddler loves (and I mean LOVES) shapes. Rather than asking people their favorite color or favorite food, he asks them what their favorite shape is.
And, he can rattle off everyone’s favorite shape: “Grandma loves triangles and daddy loves triangles and I love hexagons and mommy, she loves hearts.”
So, rather than making a couple of ole rectangular planters, we decided to be a little creative with shapes for our DIY planter boxes.

With DIY planter boxes, you can either fill the box up with dirt or just conceal a pot inside. Putting dirt directly inside the box requires the use of certain types of wood (like cedar) or a protective stain treatment (I highly recommend a non-toxic stain if growing herbs). Without this, the wood may start to rot quickly. Since we had a lot of scrap pine board cutoffs in the garage, we went the simpler route and decided to just hide a terracotta pot inside our hexagon planter box.
Materials
- 1×8 board, 6′
- 1/4″ plywood sheet (2’x2′)
- wood glue
- finishing nails
Instructions for Building a Hexagon DIY Planter
To build a hexagon DIY planter box, we needed six identical wooden segments to make the six sides of the hexagon.
Then for each segment, we needed to bevel the edges at a 30-degree angle so that they could fit together seamlessly to form the hexagon. Bevelling the edges was a breeze with our table saw.

Once we had 6 segments, it was time to connect them together with wood glue and finishing nails.
We used a clamp (our handy JawHorse) to hold the segments in place to help with this process.
Here is Ash applying some wood glue to a segment:

Next, we pressed another segment against the glue and used two finishing nails to hold the pieces in place while the glue dried.
Then, Ash used his finishing nail gun to speed up this task.

Here is a finished segment:

Segment by segment, the DIY hexagon planter started to take shape. When all the sides were connected, it was time to cut out a base for the wooden planter box.
To make the base, I traced the outline of the hexagon against a plywood sheet.

With the assistance of a clamp and a jigsaw, I cut the hexagon out of the plywood. I had to hold the plywood very firmly as I ran the jigsaw through the wood.

To attach the base to the planter box, we used more wood glue and finishing nails.
The hexagon planter box was mostly done at this point.

How to Build a Triangular DIY Planter Box
The triangular planter box was very similar in design to its hexagonal planter box cousin.
The main difference was the number of segments – I just needed three. The segments still needed 30-degree beveled edges to make a seamless triangular shape.
I repeated the steps I did for the hexagon planter box, producing this nice triangle planter box.

Finishing the Planter Boxes
As with most woodworking projects, you’re not done until you give everything a good sanding.
So I used my random orbital sander to smooth all the edges, making the planter boxes easy on the hands to handle.

I haven’t decided if I am going to paint or stain these DIY planter boxes. Check back next week for an update – along with an updated picture of the wiri wiri pepper’s new home.
And as a bonus, here’s a picture of the wiri wiri pepper in the fishbowl 🙂

These are Great planter boxes. Thank You. Can’t wait to get started making these
Thanks so much Colleen!! So happy you like them:)
Hi, love the idea of making our own planter boxes in different shapes and a great easy to use up leftover pieces of timber #mmbc
Thanks Chloe! Yes shapes are fun lol
Those planter boxes look great, both of them. Just perfect for spring. Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned.
Thanks Teresa! Hoping they’ll inspire me to grow lots:)
What a cute idea! I love this!
Thanks Melissa:)
These look easy and fun to make! My husband built me a shelf to put all my potted plants on last year. I should have him make me the hexagon planter next time. Thanks for sharing! #DIDI
Aww that’s great! Yes the hexagon one is so fun:)
How clever! #Dreamteam
Thanks Lydia!
These are great looking planters – well done! The fish bowl idea made me chuckle, that’s the sort of thing that can easily happen in our house too 🙂 #TriumphantTales
Hahaa glad you enjoyed the fish bowl part!! I’m sure it will be repurposed again soon:)
Love the geometric shapes! Very unique and great gift idea. Visiting from Happy Now.
Thanks Victoria! They were fun to make:)
Your planter boxes are adorable and perfect to feature in my 7 Ideas to Beautify Your Outdoor Spaces next week at the Merry Monday Link Party on Sunday 6 pm pst. Hope to see you then!
My fingers are anything other than green therefore if I were to do gardening, a pot bought would be what goes in my garden hahah!
Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week!
Hahaa me too! I’m hoping this time will be different:)
What a great idea! Im always looking for new and exciting things to add to the garden and think we’ll be trying these this summer #dreamteam
Thanks Emma! So glad you like them:)
These are super cute. Thanks for sharing on To Grandma’s House We Go!
Thanks Chas!
Love the step by step and you could definitely paint them afterwards. So much more unique than buying in a store!
Thanks Charlotte! They were fun to make!
These look great – you’re so crafty! I honestly wouldn’t know where to start! I love my plants, especially herbs for the kitchen, so these would be perfect. I’m not sure I’d be cut out for all the DIY though! Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Great planter boxes. We had some similar at our previous home. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs.
Jann
Thanks Jann!
These are so lovely- we love growing our own herbs for cooking and they’d look fab in these! very creative! #sharingthebloglove
Thanks Amelia! Hoping my herbs will grow this year;)
I love these. Great tutorial and great job. I will be making these. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much Pam! So happy you like them:)
Love the “unusualness” of the planters Eileen. Whoever said a planter should be square and that fishbowl works for me too 😀 Just one question, will Ash be making that robot scarecrow no that the fishbowl is empty again?
Haha thanks Michelle! I love that you enjoyed the fish bowl story! Haha he did make the robot scarecrow in the fall – the fishbowl was too small for its head lol so it’s back to laying around the garage:)
This looks great, you are really clever. I wish I was better at DIY or even better if I had married someone that was! Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Awww thanks Laura! Have a great week:)
That looks fab! Hexagon planters always look pretty cool don’t they. You make them look super easy to make too. Thanks for linking up to the bloggers #dreamteam linky.
Thanks Annette! Yes I love geometric everything:) have a lovely week
Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Thanks so much – glad you liked it!