[Sativa]

Hi all. Pretty new here so go easy on me! Having just recently aquired an allotment I am interested to know what other folk use for their raised bed frames. Not keen on using pressure treated wood as I would imagine a lot of toxins leaking into the soil from using this type of timber so what is the most popular choice to use?

[Jamie Butterworth]

Scaffold planks, cant realy think over than that, i used pressure treated wood from wickes and seems to have done ok. I did see an extreme one where they used glass bottles 

[Yorkie]

Most of the chemicals used in pressure treated wood are Ok now, I think

[andtiggertoo]

Scaffold planks here as well.  I treated them with a preservative and then let them dry well before I constructed the raised beds.

They are 13' long so used whole ones for the length of the bed, sawed some into 3 for the short ends, therefore just over 4' wide beds. If you think that might be a difficult stretch might opt to cut into 4 which gives you just over 3' wide beds.

For fixing into the ground I used 2' long 2"x2" stakes with a good point already provided to make it easier to drive into earth.  I put one of these at each corner and one half way along the long sides.

[Trillium]

I know the treated wood here has changed in chemical composition for the treating. At one time we had to use a specific screw for treated wood; now we can't use that screw in the newer treated wood as the treatment eats away at it  :blink: Supposedly the newer treatments are safer. I'd suspect the UK has followed a similar course.
For mine, I just use the cheapest wood I can get, prime it and get some cheap mistint oil paint and cover all sides. In the bluberry bed, because it needs to be steadily damp, I also lined the bed with 8 mil poly sheeting with holes poked in the bottom.

[Trikidiki]

The cheapst/tidiest/easiest I could find was fence gravel boards. Pallets would be cheaper but a lot of hassle.

I bought 2.4m x 150mm x 20mm tanalised gravel boards.  Easy to cut for 2.4 x 1.2 beds. I don't need a lot of height as the soil is very light (nearly sand) so drainage isn't a problem. I like beds for the formality and ease of keeping tidy. So the beds are more deep than raised.

[craggy]

The cheapst/tidiest/easiest I could find was fence gravel boards. Pallets would be cheaper but a lot of hassle.

I bought 2.4mx15mm Easy to cut for 2.4 x 1.2 beds. I don't need a lot of height as the soil is very light (nearly sand) so drainage isn't a problem. I like beds for the formality and ease of keeping tidy. So the beds are more deep than raised.

pressure treated 9"x2"if your rich.mine have last 20years,still there.scaffolds if not.but will not last as long.

[bigben]

It might be that raised beds are the perfect solution for you - they do have lots of benefits - good drainage etc. I am now starting my second allotment - the first which I looked after for a friend I created raised beds with paths in between because there seems to be a bit of a fashion at the time for people to create them. On my second allotment which I have just started - I had almost no wood for the edges and nothing for paths so I have just dug. In doing it this way  I realised that I have a lot more ground available without all the paths and can use boards to walk on as and when I need to.
So before you get stuck into greating raised beds you might want to think about using those scaffold planks to walk on and not bother - it has its advantages but I am sure people will wade in with arguments for and against - perhaps a bit of both?

[mumofstig]

Unless you have bad drainage, poor soil or a bad back.........I can't see any advantage in raised beds.
It is the depth of soil that counts, I think, and you can achieve this through digging deeply initially and adding manure. You can still have beds that are not walked on, so the soil is not compacted, they are just not raised
Raised beds also require more watering in a dry year, and I found are quite resrictive size wise.

But I have to admit that they do look prettier if you are veg growing in your garden

[1st time veg grower]

Unless you have bad drainage, poor soil or a bad back.........I can't see any advantage in raised beds.

But I have to admit that they do look prettier if you are veg growing in your garden

Ah - tick, tick, tick and yes, tick!

[rusty100]

Having builder mates is an advantage. As many scaffold boards as you need! 

[Kristen]

I have lazy-beds.  Soil from the paths just dug out and placed on the beds to increase their depth. No wood ... need to scrape the soil that falls down onto the paths every year or two -- but I have clay, this might not work on sand!

[Chuffy]

Our local B&Q are currently selling raised bed frames for about £17 each. 
Wood, about a foot deep in total, slot together construction and about 3' square. Not sure about how they are treated but the label describes them as being suitable for veg. I've got two and they actually look quite nice.