Landscape Timber - non treated?

[Duh_Vinci]

Where do you guys by that landscaping timber (as Ted and many others use for raise beds)? The round-ish kind?

Few years back, I bought 6 planks of those (non-treated) from Home Depot, but those were the last two they had. Now, all they sell is treated...

Local Lowe's does not sell untreated either...

I've finished building a shed in the back yard, we cut down some unwanted trees, and I want to make some raised beds for the herbs and flowers around the garden/back yard.

Regards,
D

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hey DV,

This is whay I don't use the timber (that and with my heaped and strawed beds, I don't need sides and can grow on the sides of my beds...)

You just can't find untreated unless you get tuff milled your self at a small sawyer, and the "safe" stuff that is out there is still metal salts, and I say the possibilities for soil accumulation are still high there.

Cinder block is what a lot of permies use; lasts a long time and you get a lime leach as the worst of it, which can actually be beneficial...

HG

[farmerlon]

Duh_Vinci, any Eastern Red Cedar boards available in your area?

I'm lucky enough to have access to a Cedar mill, about a 1-hour drive away. The cedar will likely not last as long a pressure-treated piece, but, it lasts a good while, and I don't have to worry about any chemical residues.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Cinder block is what a lot of permies use; lasts a long time and you get a lime leach as the worst of it, which can actually be beneficial...

I see them being used and I find it unusually for Permaculture. What part of cement is a natural system?

Eric

[Gary350]

I always buy pressure treated they are guaranteed to last 20 years and they do.

I buy the 5/4 x 1" boards 10 ft long. I cut 30" off of each board to build my raised beds. The 30" pieces are attached across the ends of the 6'6" pieces this gives me boxes 6"x 30"x 6'6" that can be filled with 6" of soil. I put 3 boxes end to end to make a 20 ft long row.

I can use the same boxes for hot beds just by laying a sliding glass patio door over the top.

[Gary350]

You did this show up twice???