What is the best materials to use when making a raised bed?
by
JeannieF
+5
In the past we made a raised bed that is falling apart and is full of weeds! Made it out of scrap wood, untreated.
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If you use wood, it should be untreated, as you used before. How about concrete blocks? We built raised beds for a relative in a wheelchair. We used 4x4s at the corners, 5/8" plywood for the sides. But, picture this: concrete blocks with the squar holes, two staced for each corner, then the 4x4s into the holes. Plywood sides and bottom with many holes drilled in it for drainage. Made the top of the plywood 24-28 inches, this allowing for the wheelchair. Used regular garden soil for planting medium and he had vegetalbes! I hope this gives you some ideas. I personally don't see the point in having "raised" beds that are 8-12 inches high! Let's get them up where we can work on 'em? You could stack the blocks up as hight asyou wanted and then fillw ith soild, but you will have to use dome stakes (preferably metal) to keep the blocks from slipping.
OOPS! that untreated is an open invitation for the termites. get rid of those and get treated 10" boards. these WILL last a LONG time, so pay for it now and get the problems over with on the untreated wood.
http://www.snwwood.com/Blog/Wood-Q-A/What-is-the-best-wood-to-use-for-raised-garden-beds
Better yet and not harmful invest in Cedar wood. I have seen that Costco has a plastic kit. It's pretty big can be one 12 foot or 2 6 foot.
You can even use treated wood for a vegetable garden. Just put the garden plastic, not the fabric, in the area of the wood to keep the bad chemicals from leaching into the soil.