wooden sandpits are they any good??

[nappyaddict]

i really like the look of them but am i right in thinking they will go rotten if left outside all year round?

They will, but it takes more than a year from experience. You can treat them to make them last longer

Yes, but the sand in any sandpit will go rotten if left out all year. Dh bags up the sand and puts the sand and pit in the shed for winter and has done one small repair to one side of the sandpit (its either three or four years old). The one we have is also big (nearly a metre wide on each side) and because low, has lots of capacity for lots of children of all ages...

will the sand go nasty even if it has a wooden lid?

No they don't go rotten. depending on the base. however, they are too small for more than 1 DC, they create, every evening a whole load of mess that needs clearing up, you need to remember to put the cover on each evening to avoid cats poop, rain, and crap that comes from nowhere and blows in, remember to take DC shoes off everytime he/she needs a drink/wee/just a toy from inside/icecream/the list goes on. You will vaccum am/luchtime/pm, the friggin sand gets everywhere. Gone the days when you say "oh he/she/they can have a bath tomorrow, they're not dirty. We have had a sandpit for the last 3 yrs, I hate it, DC LOVE it. this lasts about 10/15 mins before... who plays with what..., where... starts. (just when your getting comfy, shades on, glass of water to hand, chair kicked back, book in hand...). A sandpit really isn't worth the hassle, unless you have a big garden and you really arn't bothered what DC get up to. Good luck what ever you decide.

Do take the sand out though, after the summer.

and don't but one with a pull over plastic type lid. Great for catching water to give plants, an arse when DC go into the garden, and discover a BIG pool of water. especially when your not ready for it with spare clothes/about to go out/just hanging the washing out.

you mean like tarpaulin (sp?)

do you still get rain in the sand with the ones with wooden lids. i know a few people with the plastic sheets covers and they said they didn't keep the rain out.

what base is best to avoid the wood rotting?

we had a wooden sandpit, fine the first summer but the next spring found it thoroughly infested with slugs and woodlice colonies - really vile. It would be too much to replace the sand each year so we filled it with compost and made it into a raised bed for the dd's. tbh they get more pleasure out of growning carrots then they ever did out of the insect infected sand pit. If we ever get another sand pit it will one of those plastic turtle type ones with a really good lid.

jenkeywoo - did yours have a lid?

JW, Did you grow your carrots in the sand? My dad keeps telling me it's the best way. or did you fill it with compost. This is defo what pit is used for this year. I'm sick of it, dc will appreicate growing food more, i'm sure.

jenkeywoo - ours dont the exact same,it looked great when we bought it,but it was the biggest waste of £50 ever.
this yar we are buying a good sand table as they are SO much cleaner/easier.

mine had one of those crappy tarpaulin type things but it was sited on concrete but still got full of insects. We left the sand in there and added compost too - it's lovely as it has the kind of ledge to sit on so dd's can easily reach everything - last year they grew a row of beetroot, a row of sweet peas, marigolds, carrots (that were perfect unlike the ones in the garden) and some borlotti beans! we crammed loads in and it was the nicest bit of the garden - would thoroughly recommend it for children.

agree Sazm - I'm looking for a plastic sand table this year too. Would not consider a wooden sand pit again.

I know the one. DP stuck wood in the bottom of ours, but that not the way it came. So with last years sand, just chuck same amount of compost in ?

did you use one of the weed membrane thingys?

yeah, just chuck in some compost and mix it all up - as long as you have about 50-50 sand-compost I reckon it will be fine. The kids seeds packets they sell are great too as they are all really easy to grow varieties. good luck with it.

yep we had one of those weed membrans fabric bases,but ended up putting a wooden one on it,
half way through last yr we'd had enough and got a cheap sand table from argos which was great,but we want a nice sturdy one that will last a while so going for a nice new one from toys r us.