Raised Beds...

[pete10]

Hi all going to start building my raised beds this weekend .
Just a couple of questions , What would you use for preserving the wooden
posts , That will not damage the soil ,I thought yacht varnish ? Has anyone
got any tips .

Thanks in advance.

[pigletwillie]

All new tanalised timber is now without the copper and arsenic of old and will be the best route to go down. It supposedly lasts 20 years in the ground. Varnish is so so but it only needs a crack or chip for water to get in and start the rot.

If you can get Western red cedar posts they are naturally rot resistant and have been used as roofing shingles in the States for centuries with a life expectancy of up to 40 years.

[nick the grief]

Or use Angle iron & screw the timbers to it

[pigletwillie]

Good shout Nick, cheap as chips from a scrapyard and will last for years to boot.

[JennieAtkinson]

There must be something cheaper than Yacht Varnish - it costs us a bomb for our boat. I don't think I'd use it in the garden.

[Snadger]

Or use Angle iron & screw the timbers to it

You'll have no problems with iron defficiency in your soil either!!

[nick the grief]

There must be something cheaper than Yacht Varnish - it costs us a bomb for our boat. I don't think I'd use it in the garden.

Doesn't Yacht varnish have "stuff" added to it as well?

[JennieAtkinson]

No I don't think so - are you thinking of anti-fouling (the bit underneath the water)? That has "things" added to it, which we worry that are not ecologically sound.

Pete - when I buy posts up here they are already treated, although don't look as though they are. I just put them as they are.

[pete10]

Thaks for the info guys i might leave the varnish bit , Its not a huge problem
if i dont treat them ,They might just last a bit longer.

[rustylady]

Any wood in contact with soil will rot eventually, I don't think varnish is a good idea for reasons already stated. You can get fence paint now which is water repellant but not harmful to plants, but I don't know how much longer it would make wood last.

On our lottie site were real scavengers, and use any old bit of wood we can find, they seem to last quite well and they're all free. If you can get hold of scaffolding boards (deals) they are excellent to use for raised beds. You can join them with posts, angle irons, or metal brackets.

[pete10]

I have all the wood cut and ready to go just need some nice weather.
As for a treatment for the wood have found some fence paint on Screwfix,
That should do the job .

[Alison]

All new tanalised timber is now without the copper and arsenic of old and will be the best route to go down. It supposedly lasts 20 years in the ground.

Does anybody know when the treatment for tanalised timber changed? I hadn't realised until recently that it could be a problem and had used to it construct raised beds a few years ago so that it would last longer and have been wondering what to do about it. The advice does seem to have been quite confused as garden design programmes have been advocating using tanalised for years.

[pigletwillie]

The new tanalith E treated tiimber has been available for abour 6 years with most of the big producers changing straight over to it. However the old tanalilised timber may still be in circulation in some suppliers. All tanalith E timber should be labeled as such.

To be fare the risks of arsenic leaching out is very remote and only really become a problem if the timber is burnt.

[myutopia]

Newbie question on raised beds

I've recently got an allotment and completely new to this. I've sectioned it off into seperate beds with the idea of getting one ready for planting this year and take my time over the rest. However I went down to do a little more digging a couple of days ago and so that a large section of my plot was either completely flooded or water logged. I've decided that my best course of action is to convert the worst flooded area to raised beds. I'm told that if land is left untended for a while flooding can occur but my plot is on an old river bed so I'm guessing this is the norm when it gets a bit wet.

My plan is to get some scaffold boards and build some raised beds and dig a drainage ditch to atleast give some of the water someplace to go. Although I suspect that this will simply fill up. Having read some of the posts here on raised beds I've got a couple of questions.

1: I've done the usual ebay and googling but haven't come up with a cheap source for scaffold boards, can anyone recommend anything. i.e. has anyone had any luck just ringing up a scaffolding firm and asking if the have any old ones they're getting shot off?

2: Can anyone recommend any really good treatments for the wood? The water on my plot is reasonably deep and hangs around for quite a while so the wood will need a lot of protecting.


I did toy with the idea of concreate gravel boards, but these would be too heavy for me to work with and obtain.

Also does anyone else think it may be worth having a section for wanted ad's or for stuff people want shot of.

[pete10]

I have gone for gravel boards and 2X2 posts ,The boards where £2 each
which is not to expensive On the subject of scaffold boards , You can
get them second hand if you look in the yellow pages ,As they renew the
boards when they get a small split in them .As for the paint Screwfix
do a fence paint that is not harmful to plants . http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...94680&ts=17020

Hope this helps.