4.0 out of 5 stars Light Metal Structure is Easy to Assemble, but Delicate My first impression of this planter is that it’s fairly easy to assemble. But it’s easy to assemble because the materials are lightweight and thin. This means that if you drop the parts, they’ll bend easily. You need to handle this piece delicately during the assembly process, or else you’ll wind up sitting on your porch, frustrated with yourself, struggling to unkink the bends you’ve put into the metal.To start, it bears stating that this is pretty easy to assemble. The instructions are clear and written in English, not Ikea hieroglyphics, and the pieces are lightweight and easy to handle. I assembled mine single-handed in less than thirty minutes. The pieces hold together with hex-nuts and Philips-head bolts, included. You can use an adjustable wrench and screwdriver for the assembly, but I just set them finger-tight.The pieces are made of lightweight metal, reminiscent of the tooled metal used to make ductwork. Knock on the pieces with your knuckles, and they will ring with the same bell-like tone that you’ve probably heard from HVAC ducts at your home, work, or school. But just like the HVAC metal, these pieces are thin and flexible, and if you knock them around, drop them, or otherwise abuse them, they’ll bend.I had pieces slip from my grip while assembling, putting kinks in the metal right where I’d eventually need to join the pieces together. I got the metal straight enough, but if you’ve ever worked with this material, you know it’ll never be completely straight again. I got the whole thing assembled (thank you to the manufacturer for including extra nuts and bolts), but it does require very delicate handling.At this point, I’m only reviewing how it was to assemble and put into use. I’ve put soil in it (the metal is more than sturdy enough for that), but it’s still too early to transplant anything living. Now we’ll see how it works for actually growing plants. I’ll check back in and revise this review as I find out how it works for that purpose. 49 people found this helpful
