Raised Veg Beds for Garden

[charloman]

Hi everyone,

I know this subject has been adressed on here before, but does anyone know where I could get some wood suitable for making raised veg beds? I am in the Drogheda area. I know old sleepers arent ideal because they are pressure treated with chemicals and I have seen scaffolding boards being recommended on some of the posts, but I havent the slightest clue as of where to get them. Sorry about the ignorance, but it's my 1st attempt at building the raised beds and I've never had to go looking for wood supplies (especially ensuring that it must be untreated wood).

Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
C

[toddler]

Hi,
We used old sleepers for our veg garden, so far no problems with the creosote, but if you are wanting untreated timber most builders merchants sell scaffold timbers, which might serve the purpose.

Good luck,
Tod

[Anonany]

Have just noticed that someone on Adverts.ie is offering "blown down" fencing free ... it's likely to be pressure-treated, so would have quite a decent amount of life left in it. Here is the link:

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.ph...=146973&cat=42

You could also try:

http://www.dublinwaste.ie/free_trade.php

There are usually quite a few doors on offer ... a bit of DIY could turn a couple of old doors into quite a respectable raised bed !

Another thought ... every so often free pallets are available -- either from online forums or from builder suppliers yards. Back to DIY, again, but it's amazing what can be done with a couple of pallets.

Regards, Anonany

[coffeycase]

you can also use rubber digger tracks, these would be oval shaped when laid out and depending on the size of the machine they come off can be various "heights" as well. contact your local tyre man and see do they order them in for anyone (as they would be replacing the old ones) or your local hire firm that hire out mini diggers would be delighted to get rid of them and they are perfect, no putting them together or anything and because they are rubber need no maintenance and actually raise the temperature of the soil inside

perfect

good luck

[reebok]

hi, we recently made some raised veg beds for our allotment, from wooden pallets. They are two "planks" high, and once the pallets had been broken down (the hardest bit), the beds were straightforward enough to make.
I say this from the authority of the kitchen window, where I observed hubby grafting away!
We got ours from a local paint supplier - I'd say any place which is fairly large and gets heavy deliveries would be worth approaching. This place had hundreds. We got the heaviest-duty ones that they had - some would be a bit flimsy for what you need. The ones we got were not treated, either.
Best of luck with it anyway.

[cascade35]

Hi charlowman
I am also intrested in raised beds, like you ive never tried it,i will be watching your post with great intrest to see what tips other users post.
Best of luck with it.

[charloman]

Thanks for all the replies... some excellent recommendations there and some very interesting ones too... I guess people can be very resourceful when they have to be.... I couldnt get a lot done this weekend but I'll be searching high and low over the next few weeks and once done I'll get a few pics added... fingers crossed it all goes well

[Daithic]

You should call a few builders providers. They can tell you if they take them back from builders or what happens to the scaffold planks once they have been used. Also some of the builders in your area - check out the Golden Pages - they may have a yard and let you take a few. Another way is to go to some local building site and ask the foreman if they have any that are not suitable. I'd imaging with the way things are there are a fair few redundant ones unfortunately!

Good luck!!

[minnie pal]

self and twin are scooter users and losing our legs, we both have small gardens and would love ideas to make attractive raised beds. i dont want anything too big as my patio is a patch more than anything and it wont make a quilt, but twin has a larger area and i think she has more energy for te gardening part.
all ideas gratefully received.
minnie pal

[beehive]

So the gardening bug has hit you. I started a raised bed area 2 years ago and its just the best of crack. I attached DPC (damp proof course) its the black stuff that is put around the base of all houses, around the inside of each box to keep the soil from touching the timber. It's just an idea for you, you'd get a longer life out of what ever timber you decide to use. Any timber provider will offer you advice on the best sizes to use and if they are as helpful as mine will even cut them to measure. It would fit in your car then!!!The one thing to def remember is leave at least 3 feet between each bed. Start small. 4 boxes...... The kitchen Garden, magazine has a super section on the recycled garden. The ideas are fantastic. Well worth buying before you start turning the sod. Also take lots of photo of the work...... Good luck