Will the galvanized metal poison us?
Figuring out the actual construction.
We couldn't find anything that would work as the divider in our 3' x 8' horse trough, and my husband refused to drill the million necessary holes in the piece of heavy plexiglass that I found at Home Depot. So back to the drawing board.
He turned to the internet to find an alternative, probably because he was having nightmares about drilling holes. He found an article in Family Handyman about building a planter out of wood with french drain pipe (with holes in it) used as the water reservoir. So that was the plan we decided to follow with a few variations to accommodate putting it in a horse trough.
Since we knew that the potting soil would be expensive, and the horse trough is deep, we chose to put in two layers of french drain pipe to hold even more water.
Construction day.
Planting time.
After we planted, we covered the soil with a thin layer of cedar mulch to help maintain the moisture.