[RichardA]

Everyone seems to talk about timber or plastic for raised beds. I have a large quantity of concrete slabs available to me, bit chipped in places but at 3 foot by 2 foot  by 2 inches thick certainly strong enough if buried half in and half out to form beds say 5 foot wide and as long as I like with guess what concrete paths between. Also will help to level up plot by adjusting how deep set in.
Can any one see a problem with concrete slabs at all --  drainage is good and soil is loamy. What is it about timber except ease of carrying and cutting that makes it favourite.
R.

[Ruth Cross]

I don't see any probs with this, although I would bury two thirds of the height to be on the safe side

[Dominic]

I could see subsidence definatly being a problem with them.

As well as that, what about temperature issues, I can imagine them getting very cold in winter, and staying cold well into spring.

[compo]

Slabs are very hard work to set, digging etc, whereas timber means 1 cut and a whole side is done. Just the time needed to finish a bed would be the main reason to use timber, although no rotting issues with slabs. Also, when using fleece or netting, wood gives something to nail or screw to as opposed to just weighing it down

[Ice]

What compo said.  Use treated wood and use pavers as paving.  Beds no wider than 4 foot.

[Trillium]

That said, this spring I'm tearing out all the rotted railway sleepers that frame my original veg beds, and I'm replacing them with cinder blocks, crushed gravel and rebar pieces to hold them in place. But my beds are each 8ft wide and 22ft long, so I don't have an issue with warming soil, and only the south end, which is sloped down in that direction, will have blocks exposed. Mostly I'm doing blocks because of soil retention of the downgrade and the lasting property of cinder blocks. They're also far cheaper than any sort of wood that's strong enough.
Pavers could be partly buried, but you'd also need some sort of outside support to insure they stay upright, and the beds shouldn't be too narrow. Spreading plastic sheeting over the surface in spring would help warm the soil, and stakes along each side here and there could hold netting or whatever.

[jack russell]

an old fella on our site has used this method. Hard work initially but once in they are there to stay they also look good with a coat of masonry paint to finish.  I would say go for it, and post the pics on here