# Boarders for raised beds?



## Ingersoll444 (Sep 17, 2003)

I have a few raised beds I am planing on putting in this summer. I am trying to get some ideas on what to use for a boarder for them. What do you all use? Any pictures?

I do have a ton of old Railroad ties that I could use. Any problem you can think of with them?


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## Spike (Sep 26, 2003)

*Idea*

I don't currently have any pictures, but I use what I believe is a moss rock. I try to keep them level around the bedding, so I have some areas where they are only one high and up to three high in some other places. I also have a few large bolders. It really looks nice.

I don't know if this type of rock is available in your area though.


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## Greg (Sep 16, 2003)

Paul,

I would not use RR ties. Good chance of creosote poisioning. Frame of reinforced 2x12's should work. 

Here's some ideas from a "raised garden beds" Google search:

http://houseandhome.msn.com/garden/BuildModularRaisedGardenBeds0.aspx

Greg


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## MowHoward2210 (Nov 2, 2003)

Paul,

I had a garden with raised beds. I used 8' landscape timbers to frame around it. It was pretty small though. Probably 24' X 16'.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

Yeah I agree with the RR ties.... No go! In lieu of expensive redwood, or new synthetic wood, I went for the 4x6 PT boards in 8' length. I have read up and down and even performed scientific tests on the arsenic levels of the beds with the "leaching" of the CCA into the nearby soil. Keep this in mind and it is true. If the levels of arsenic are high enough to bother you, the plants you are growing will -never- make it. They are highly sensitive to high levels of arsenic much higher than the human body. The levels of arsenic were directly in relation to the proximity to the boards themselves and the dropoff was very high. Leaching does occur but not the extent to cause any problems. I can post the full report I did for a project if you want. 

And keep in mind this report was conducted with a raised bed with -no- plastic lining.(and the numbers were STILL way on the safe side) 

What I did was stack the 4x6x8 boards and line the boards with plastic lining on the sides and used landscaping fabric for the base of the raised bed. I then backfilled the whole bed with prepared compost, humus, potting and topsoil, & fertilizer. It has worked really well for me and with the proper mulching etc, it really makes easy work of a top notch and quality garden with great yields! :-D

HTH,
Andy


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

How big are the beds you all built? We are going to try 4'x8'. Is that too small? Our plan is to put in 3 or 4 that size????


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

I started out with an 8x8 box stacked 2 high and it was a good size for a small manageable garden. You can grow a HEFTY amount of food in a well-maintained and nourished 8x8 box! 
Ask me how many tens of pounds of zucchini, squash, peppers, broccoli and many other type of crops you can get from an 8x8 box. I am going to expand the box to 8x16 by adding a side box to it. Currently, I am growing spinach, asparagus, english peas, lima beans, green peppers (big bertha), onions, carrots (24K gold hybrid), and 2 crops of straight neck squash. All of that in an 8x8 garden. It might not feed the neighborhood but it does feed my family just in part and for fun. Now my satsuma and pear trees will feed the whole neighborhood and then some! 

Amazing how much you can grow and all of my crops are from seeds. How cheap can you get! 

Andy
:lucky:


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## Ingersoll444 (Sep 17, 2003)

OK, maybe I should clearafy a bit. These are not for a vegy garden, just for a landscape plantings.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

Oh then use whatever you want. You ain't going to be eat the flowers right?  ---- Landscaping timbers are ok but do break down over time. Is this a curved or box (straight angle) garden bed area? You can use stones as I did for my front flower bed gardens. Got those curved stackable stones from Lowes at about ~$1.19-1.29 each and stacked it 2 high...works just fine. 

Andy


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## Spike (Sep 26, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Ingersoll444 _
> *OK, maybe I should clearafy a bit. These are not for a vegy garden, just for a landscape plantings. *


Thanks for the clarification. After reading a few posts, I thought I was way off base and I was going to delete my post.


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## leolav (Sep 16, 2003)

I use our areas biggest cash crop as a border, FIELD STONE. We have more than enough for a few raised beds. We have over 780 linear feet of stone walls on and around our property. Most have been their for a long while.

It seems we can't dig more than an inch or two without hitting a stone or two.


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