Anyone got a raised veg bed?

[Replyingtoyou]

Looking at raised beds..

Everywhere says to get untreated wood. Does anyone have experience of how long this sort of thing made out of untreated wood ie sleepers would last?

Also considering aluminium if anyone has any experience

Thanks

I had some small untreated wood ones. One lasted about 8 years before it rotted and fell apart. The others were still usable after 12 years, with just a bit of rotting underneath.

This summer I've switched to some modular galvanised steel ones - mainly because they were the ones that fitted best in the space I had. They look great and I would imagine they will last for a very long time.

Thank you, would you mind sharing what you bought please?

We built ours from (new) untreated oak sleepers in 2018. They have silvered nicely and are still solid as you'd expect from oak. However, they are showing minor signs of splitting and - I imagine due to the damp conditions where we are in the UK - I think they'll eventually fail.

I've got my eye on some corrugated steel ones too, but DH prefers the rustic look!

Have a look at Everedge website, their EasyBed product.

I used it to create beds for a rose “path” in my front garden. Been in almost 4 years now - no rust, no warping, no need to treat it.

Will post a link to the site, and then try to find a photo of mine.

https://www.everedge.co.uk/product/easybed/

Not a great photo, but hopefully you get the idea. These shrub roses are quite large, I vigorously cut them back each year. I’d say if my beds can handle them then any veg you want to grow would be just fine. It’s more to do with the soil/manure/etc that you fill the, with before planting.

Photo from 2 weeks ago, the beds have been in just over 4 years.

This might give a better idea - beds as the new roses went in. I’d forgotten how small they looked!

This looks beautiful, wow - thank you for sharing

This is what I bought Modular Steel Raised Bed - Harrod Horticultural It comes in sections so you can build it in whichever configuration fits your space. There are a LOT of nuts and bolts but it's great quality so all fits nicely. I've got the cream shown here but I have seen a plain steel one elsewhere and I think a dark grey one too.

I have pallet collars as the edging on my raised beds, they've been in place for 4 years and still no rotting. They were £10 each from a local scrappie who recycles as much as he can. As they sit directly on the ground and I cleared the spaces where they sit, the roots of the plants go way below the level of the bed, so I have nice strong plants and watering isn't as much of an issue

I think the point about using untreated sleepers and similar is that traditionally they were deep soaked in various mixtures of creosote, old engine oil and other fluids that are toxic to plants. Nowadays there are plenty of non-toxic preservatives on the market eg Cuprinol which can be used instead (I'm sure there are much better choices). Our beds have been in 11 years and originally had three coats of Cuprinol. The veg are wonderful and the plants thrive.