Wooden planters

[Katieandthekids]

Hi all

We have an area of soil in our garden where just nothing ever grows except weeds. I was thinking of buying some raised planters to grow some herbs and flowers in but can I put the planters straight onto the soil area? Everything I read is about putting them on concrete?

You'd need to make sure the wood was really well treated with wood preserver to stop them rotting if they're to stand directly on the soil. You'll also need to lay a really good weed barrier or you'll end up with lovely planters surrounded by weeds.

Is there no way to get rid of the weeds and improve the soil in that patch?

If weeds grow then something else should be able to grow there. What are the conditions like?

There is a botched job behind it of some sleepers for a decking area that we want to hide with planters so planters will be better. Am going to lay down a rock base first and just not spend too much on the planters knowing they probably won't last forever.

I have built some planters... Lined with membrane. Compost /soil mix and planted all sorts successfully!

Soil base is better for drainage and the plants roots can grown down into it. As long as you use tanalised wood it’ll be fine. My garden has been terraced using sleepers for the past ten years and they haven’t rotted.

We built a large bed (60cm high) and just put it on the soil base. We lined the sides to help protect the wood but left the bottom open.

Untreated oak sleepers have a long life, and if you plan to grow anything edible, check that treated sleepers haven't used anything toxic that could leach into the soil.

A raised bed (bottomless) may work better than a planter. If it’s deep enough, the weeds won’t get through, especially if you put (say) cardboard at the bottom to act as a membrane until it rots away.

Why aren’t plants growing there? If it’s lack of light, for example, the same will affect anything in planters

I had some wooden barrel style planters.
They were on concrete and looked lovely for the first year or so, then they rotted away and fell apart.

I would buy ceramic/terracotta if you can afford it and plastic if you can’t.