Hi all
My wife and I are wanting to grow some vegetables in our church community garden.
The grow itself will be fed with a lot of our own compost we’re saving.
We’ve been researching how to do this and put simply - we can’t afford sleeper / untreated wood right now.
I was wondering if there would be any harm if we were to use treated timbre and protect the grow with some protective linen inside the bed, so our soil won’t be making any physical contact with the treated wood itself.
Is this advisable?
Peter
It depends on what the lumber is treated with. If it is treated with arsenic, then no. If it is treated with hi-bor or ACQ it might be possible.
You could use cedar or redwood which are naturally rot resistant but cost more than pine. You could also go really cheap and pick up some untreated pallets, usually for free. It takes some time to take them apart and rebuild them, but it is safe and free for a short time.
For myself. I don't go the wood route. Termites love wood in the ground, so I build my beds with hollow tile. 2 tiles high is 16 inches, 3 tiles are 18 inches. I dry lay them and use rebar and rocks or soil to fill the cores. They can be capped or you can plant the holes as well. They can leach lime over time, but I have had mine for years, it has never been a problem, but I have very acidic soil. A hollow tile bed will last longer than wood. And it requires less skill to install. Basically if you can level the ground with a shovel and a trowel and put in a sand base and use a string line to keep the tiles level, you are good. For myself, I have a hard time putting two pieces of wood together without corner braces and carpentry is not one of my better skills.
https://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inf ... rdens.html
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-use-p ... 80963.html
You could use cedar or redwood which are naturally rot resistant but cost more than pine. You could also go really cheap and pick up some untreated pallets, usually for free. It takes some time to take them apart and rebuild them, but it is safe and free for a short time.
For myself. I don't go the wood route. Termites love wood in the ground, so I build my beds with hollow tile. 2 tiles high is 16 inches, 3 tiles are 18 inches. I dry lay them and use rebar and rocks or soil to fill the cores. They can be capped or you can plant the holes as well. They can leach lime over time, but I have had mine for years, it has never been a problem, but I have very acidic soil. A hollow tile bed will last longer than wood. And it requires less skill to install. Basically if you can level the ground with a shovel and a trowel and put in a sand base and use a string line to keep the tiles level, you are good. For myself, I have a hard time putting two pieces of wood together without corner braces and carpentry is not one of my better skills.
https://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inf ... rdens.html
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-use-p ... 80963.html
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Vanisle_BC
- Greener Thumb
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- Location: Port Alberni, B.C. Canada, Zone 7 (+?)
@imafan Are you using clay tiles, or referring to cement/concrete blocks. I'm not sure where I'd find hollow clay tiles around here. My beds a re cedar; all needing rebuilt. My next tentative choice was going to be 'landscape ties' with rebar down through them - all a bit laborious at my age.
Last edited by Vanisle_BC on Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for your post, it was extremely informative.imafan26 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 28, 2022 5:05 pmIt depends on what the lumber is treated with. If it is treated with arsenic, then no. If it is treated with hi-bor or ACQ it might be possible.
You could use cedar or redwood which are naturally rot resistant but cost more than pine. You could also go really cheap and pick up some untreated pallets, usually for free. It takes some time to take them apart and rebuild them, but it is safe and free for a short time.
For myself. I don't go the wood route. Termites love wood in the ground, so I build my beds with hollow tile. 2 tiles high is 16 inches, 3 tiles are 18 inches. I dry lay them and use rebar and rocks or soil to fill the cores. They can be capped or you can plant the holes as well. They can leach lime over time, but I have had mine for years, it has never been a problem, but I have very acidic soil. A hollow tile bed will last longer than wood. And it requires less skill to install. Basically if you can level the ground with a shovel and a trowel and put in a sand base and use a string line to keep the tiles level, you are good. For myself, I have a hard time putting two pieces of wood together without corner braces and carpentry is not one of my better skills.
https://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inf ... rdens.html
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-use-p ... 80963.html
I since discovered that Glasgow Wood have loads of untreated Scottish Spruce which apparently a lot of folks have used for their grows so I’ve ordered some planks today.
Can’t wait to get building, then growing!
Just retired, so money is an issue with me. I went the "free" skid/pallet route. I found a supply of nice sized 2x4 wooden supports for PVC piping that I could stack up and screw together. I lined them with plastic. Not large, but a nice size for smaller crops....beets, beans, radish, carrots etc.
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greenstubbs
- Senior Member
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:41 pm
- Location: Far Upper Alabama
As Paul said above about RR ties is true. I went to the garden center and got old ties to line the area of mine. I used them for over 16 years before I moved and had a prolific garden every year. Plants don't like to be bunched up against a object like that so, just plant a few inches away from the edge and you'll be fine! Good Luck
If money is an issue, you don't have to have a border, you can just hill up the sides of the garden and put a border in later. If you have a lot of large stones , you can use stones as a border. The only downside to that is that it is hard to weed between the stones.
It is better to build with whatever material you can easily source.
My main garden was a raised bed built with stones. It was a derelict rock garden when we bought the house. The house had been a rental for 10 years and the tenants really did not take good care of the yard. It was easier for me to refurbish the bed rather than start over. It is not that hard to find lava stones at the smaller beaches.
Building a bed with wood is not a really good idea in this climate between termites and wood rot. Untreated pallets would have worked and would not be that hard to source. Otherwise, wood is expensive and railroad ties really don't exist.
There was a large mango tree stump in the middle of the garden when we bought the house. The neighbor said the original owner had a mango tree, but it was cut down because of termites. The garden has served me well .
We did add a dried laid brick border around the garden because it would get muddy and I added a dry laid patio on the side nearest the house that took me over a year to build. I bought the pavers from a stone yard a little at a time. My car could could only hold 8-10 pavers because a sedan does not have a heavy duty suspension system. Building it slowly like that made it affordable and dry laying pavers is a low tech skill. I did have to make sure that water would not be trapped in the yard and could get over or around the pavers to exit otherwise I would have ended up with a swimming pool in the back yard every time we had a heavy rain. The patio does have a slope but a minor one that really is not noticeable but it actually was done on purpose.
The only thing we did not think of was when we put up the back wall. We spread the excavated dirt around the back yard and that makes the yard only 1/2 inch lower than the patio. When there is a heavy rain, the patio will flood and recede when the rain abates.
It is better to build with whatever material you can easily source.
My main garden was a raised bed built with stones. It was a derelict rock garden when we bought the house. The house had been a rental for 10 years and the tenants really did not take good care of the yard. It was easier for me to refurbish the bed rather than start over. It is not that hard to find lava stones at the smaller beaches.
Building a bed with wood is not a really good idea in this climate between termites and wood rot. Untreated pallets would have worked and would not be that hard to source. Otherwise, wood is expensive and railroad ties really don't exist.
There was a large mango tree stump in the middle of the garden when we bought the house. The neighbor said the original owner had a mango tree, but it was cut down because of termites. The garden has served me well .
We did add a dried laid brick border around the garden because it would get muddy and I added a dry laid patio on the side nearest the house that took me over a year to build. I bought the pavers from a stone yard a little at a time. My car could could only hold 8-10 pavers because a sedan does not have a heavy duty suspension system. Building it slowly like that made it affordable and dry laying pavers is a low tech skill. I did have to make sure that water would not be trapped in the yard and could get over or around the pavers to exit otherwise I would have ended up with a swimming pool in the back yard every time we had a heavy rain. The patio does have a slope but a minor one that really is not noticeable but it actually was done on purpose.
The only thing we did not think of was when we put up the back wall. We spread the excavated dirt around the back yard and that makes the yard only 1/2 inch lower than the patio. When there is a heavy rain, the patio will flood and recede when the rain abates.