Author Topic: Raised beds - what wood? (Read 6108 times)

gwynleg · « **on:** October 24, 2007, 20:33:36 »

Hi - I really would like to have raised beds this year. What wood do people use? Do you find it in skips, or buy it and if so from where? I want not to use preservatives (doing organic) so would put plastic on the inside of the wood (as it says in the wiki).

Any tips so I can encourage the OH who feels it would only be realistic to make one raised bed this year?
Thanks

SMP1704 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 24, 2007, 22:08:58 »

Hi there

I made several beds with scaff planks, sawn in half length ways - 1x13' plank makes 1.5 8x4 beds ;D I also found that the frames from pine beds make good frames. had a major find in a couple of skips late last year - one from a shop refurb and another from the London Basement Company, who threw out all their offcuts ;D ;D ;D but they have since moved :'( :'( and I also bought some planks from Wickes.

There has been a long discussion on the forum about the preservatives from wood leaching into the soil and the general thought was that it was so miniscule as to not make a difference........but we all do things our own way

Only one raised bed this year? Well depends how big and deep you want to make it and how precise you want to be. I hammered four corners together for each of four beds in an afternoon - then discovered that with a charged up cordless drill, could do a much better job with a LOT less effort ::) I also treated myself to a cordless Scorpion saw that so took to strain out of cutting the wood to size.

Hope that helps - good luck

cambourne7 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 24, 2007, 22:45:00 »

Hi Gwynleg,

Given the time of year i think you will struggle to have enough daylight to be able to scavage enough wood to build raised beds. So people rip pallets apart (i tried and they just disintergrate on me). So i ended up buying pressure treated plants 10ft long and 6inches wide each one cost me £3 plus delivery.

I agree that the worry about the wood being treated was neglagble.

I also would agree with the need for help with cutting the wood, as if your making lots of beds its hard work to cut it all manualy. I bought a ryobi circular saw and drill ( i had returned one or two other makes and this is the only one that lasted)

Ok, its £150 but i have got a lot of use out of this.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101402&ts=62041&id=40774

You also need to make sure that you get screws that will last and are wide enough as there is a lot of pressure on them. One lot of screws i used broke and it took an age to repair.

Good luck :)

Cambourne7

asbean · « **Reply #3 on:** October 24, 2007, 22:45:29 »

I built 10 beds, between 13' and 16' long by approx 4.5' wide with scaffold boards I salvaged from a tool hire company in return for bags of veg. I did it over the course of a year, building bed by bed, cleaning, cutting the pieces to size, joining together and I painted them with fence/shed paint. I also did some with gravel board, and have ordered more gravel board (more civilised than scavenging, although more expensive) for the new plot. Hopefully this new lot will just take the winter to put together, the ground is ready, and I have my measurements and plan drawn up.

donlottie · « **Reply #4 on:** October 25, 2007, 08:07:28 »

if you live in or near Kent then check this E-buygumbay out lots of wood free to all http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,36466.0.html

star · « **Reply #5 on:** October 25, 2007, 13:21:32 »

We use logs, lots of trees come down specially with winter storms....and summer ones. They look lovely and natural, they also give a daytime refuge to beetles, newts, small frogs and shhhhh slugs. But the good guys get them lol!

MrsKP · « **Reply #6 on:** October 26, 2007, 06:39:33 »

I spent a bit of time searching through skips and stuff and only managed to salvage enough for one 5'x5'x6" RB - got that from the wood skip at the dump.

Ended up buying a stack of gravel board (thnk it's treated but not sure) from the local timber yard and got them to cut it to size for me. Given the fact I can't saw a straight line to save my life, this was a god send.

I've coated everything with one coat of fence and shed paint (plant friendly when dry apparently) so for about £200 I've got 7 x 8'x4'x1' and 1 x 8'x2'x1' plus the reclaimed 5'x5'. Included in the outlay was the cutting, delivery and paint.

At a push, I could knock up 2 beds per visit with my trusty £7.99 cordless drill from B&Q in a sale. Now all I've got to do is fill them!

Tad pricey I know, but all the beds are now done and in place and I can concentrate on growing next year instead of building.

I'm hoping for a dry winter though as my plot ended up about 4' under water last January (before I took it over) which will no doubt reduce the lifespan of the beds.

Pics on the lottie blog if you're interested.

dtw · « **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2007, 14:00:12 »

Do scaffolding boards that are covered in cement (well used) last longer?

norfolklass · « **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2007, 14:30:49 »

I'm toying with this idea too, and found these on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130166100595&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130128025919&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003
but worried that the wood looked a bit thin...

Kea · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2007, 16:12:34 »

I think they would be too thin....6.5 mm is very thin.

tabbycat · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2007, 16:27:55 »

I'm with Mrs KP on this one - I wanted to get all my beds built and dug over in the autumn so that I could grow stuff in them next season.

I've used gravel boards from Wickes for mine. It's a bit of an expense but I've never managed to find any decent skipped wood, (have found loads of pallets though, which I've use for my compost and manure bins) and being a bit of a control freak, I like to know that all my beds are going to be a standard size, which is difficult with salvaged timber as you never know what you are going to find!

My DH is in charge of construction, I'm in charge of digging and the girls are on bindweed duty. Between us we manage to get 2 beds made, dug and weeded in about 2 hours, with an all important tea and doughnut break included :)

We've made 8 so far, 2 more to go

Tabby

Lauren S · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2007, 20:06:24 »

Do Wickes provide a delivery service?
My biggest problem is getting the wood to the allotment :'(

SnooziSuzi · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2007, 20:31:49 »

I'm using broken up pallets which are surprisingly effective...

See this thread on how to break them up... click here

tabbycat · « **Reply #13 on:** October 26, 2007, 21:09:38 »

Quote from: Lauren S on October 26, 2007, 20:06:24

Do Wickes provide a delivery service?
My biggest problem is getting the wood to the allotment :'(

Yes, they do Lauren, but I think it's quite expensive unless you have an order over a certain figure, then I believe they deliver for free.

Wickes also only deliver using massive great lorries so you'd need to make sure they'd be able to get onto the site.

It maybe worth seeing how much a "man with a van" is instead

Tabby x

gwynleg · « **Reply #14 on:** October 26, 2007, 21:33:14 »

Hi - thought I had replied earlier but maybe I pressed the delete button instead! Thanks for all these answers - I showed my OH and we may move on now (I can make them but he has the van to pick them up). On ebay there are scaffolding planks 100ft for £35 which seems v good but too far away from us (E Sussex) - might be good for others though?

SMP1704 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 26, 2007, 21:42:13 »

Lauren

Have you tried your local timber merchant, they will usually deliver locally for free

moonbells · « **Reply #16 on:** October 27, 2007, 18:29:19 »

I made all of mine out of untreated rough cut pine. They should last a few years and I don't like the idea of preservatives. Used sharpened pegs to hold the planks in position (those were treated, but are on the outside of the planks) and nailed them to the planks once positioned.

Corners I did with metal reinforcement - right angled brackets with a couple of screw holes per side. That way, the pressure on the screws was lateral and I don't have to worry about them working out of the wood. Used two of those per corner in general (though as I was also flattening a sloping site, sometimes there was only one)

moonbells

calendula · « **Reply #17 on:** October 27, 2007, 19:58:04 »

one of my plots was already made into raised beds using heavy planks when I took it over but many of them are deteriorating so I use cuttings from my willows to build up the edges - 1 thick twig set every 6 inches and then lots of finer ones twined all around them, not only is this pretty to look at but completely free :o

so if anyone near you is growing willows (or hazels) then you try this as well

growmore · « **Reply #18 on:** October 28, 2007, 10:13:40 »

I would be very wary of making raised beds from untreated boards..
Here is a pic of wood I have gathered for the Kid's bonfire..
On the bottom of the pile is a load of untreated 15ft 6x1 boards used for a guys raised beds with 3x2 downposts for corners ..After 2 seasons of growing they have all started rotting badly...Can prove expensive ..

Simba42 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 28, 2007, 11:50:59 »

Hey we have 10 beds all 5m x 2m. 6 of the beds we have raised them. We use B&Q pressure treated wood. It's 4m long and 24mm thick. it's about £2.50 a lenth.

This works well for us. I'm sure we could get the wood cheaper from a merchant. But we don't know any. We will do the other 4 beds this winter.

News:

Author Topic: Raised beds - what wood? (Read 6108 times)