How to build a simple soil screener

Back in Ohio, the earth was fertile, manageable, and easy to dig. Here in the rockies, the soil is...well, flush with rocks. When we dug out our current flower bed, I removed countless softball-sized and bigger rocks. But I struggled to get rid of the bunches and bunches of smaller rocks. This year, Danielle and I are going to try dense gardening, so great soil is a must. That’s where this simple soil screener comes in....

Supplies:
The following boards of 1”x8” lumber:
(2) Two foot boards
(2) One foot boards
Several (about 12) Finishing nails
About (40) 1/8” Fiber insulated staples
1/2” Screen (I used 1/4”, but only because the store was out of 1/2”), about 16” x 24” (most screen is sold off of a 24” roll, so you’ll just ask for 16”

Tools:
Hammer
Wire cutters (less preferred but will work) or tin snips (ideal)
Drill
Rope/twine
(you only need the drill and rope for the handle, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have it on-hand)


The finished product will be basically a wooden rectangle. Start by marking off the angle of the board. I angle the board because it makes the box a whole lot easier to hang on to. I did about a 30-degree tilt. Once you determine the angle you want, measure how far the board is away from the sides and use this data to replicate the angle on the opposite side of the long board.


Prepare to nail the first side. You’ll need something steady to balance out the other side of the long board.


I find it helpful to draw a line representing the outer or inner dimension of the board to be nailed into. This helps me nail in the right place.


Secure the boards together by driving in two nails, one at the top and one at the bottom.

Repeat the process for the second one foot board to be secured to the same long board. At this point you should have a box without one of the long sides. Simply place the longer board on top, eyeball (or draw a line) where you need to drive your nails, and drive the nails to complete the box.


The finished box should look something like this. Next, we'll add the screen.


Turn the box upside down and place the piece of screen on the box frame. The screen is quite rigid so you don’t need to worry about getting it taught like you might with other materials. Line up the screen as shown so that you only have two sides to cut instead of four. The screen can be a bear to cut.


Use the staples to fasten the screen to the box. I used 1/8” fiber insulated staples which have a soft shell that lets me start them into the wood with my thumb. After starting them, a couple whacks of the hammer drives them in nicely. A strong staple gun would have the same effect. Our household gun wasn’t strong enough for this project.


After the screen is fastened, cut the screen to allow you to wrap a portion of the end of the screen around the angled board. This cutting process will take a while if all you have is wire cutters. That’s all I had. Tin snips work better, largely because they allow cutting to the very tip of tool, whereas my wire cutters double as pliers and therefore don’t cut at the tip. After you fold the screen, staple it taught.


After cutting off all excess, the stapled mesh should look something like this. The process of cutting off the extra mesh was long and annoying.

At this point, you have a useable screen. The tilted sides make holding it pretty easy. However, to make handling the box even easier and also to help with storage, I added a handle at one end.


To make a handle, you’ll first drill two holes. Make an approximate line three inches from the top of the box. Measure three inches in from where the boards on both sides meet and put a dot. This will show you where to drill for a centered handle.

Drill the holes. I used a 3/8” bit. The size of the bit depends on the size of the rope you’ll feed through.

Feed a piece of rope through and knot it on the inside to keep it from coming back out the holes. That’s it!

Now dump your icky soil in, sift out the rocks, and enjoy the dirt!