Pressure Treated wood for Vegetable Garden?

[dmccarty]

I am lucky in that there is a PT plant I can somewhat easily get too from work. I have used them for years and their quality and price is much better than the big box stores.

There is another plant west of us that I might visit one day to see if they are cheaper compared to the plant in the "city."

Regarding bed building. I have used something like a 1x4 for flower type beds. I would cut lengths of 4x4 to attach the 1x4's at the corners and in the middle for a long run. Worked ok and the wood was still fine when we sold the house. If I did this again I would try to figure out a way to anchor the wood to the ground.

I have thought of just buying regular lumber since it is straighter and cheaper. To slow down rot I thought about painting it and lining the raised bed with plastic of some kind. Never did it but thunk about it.

Check your phone books, if you still have 'em, :laughing: and see if there is a PT plant near you. The one I go to is family owned and has been in business for at least 40-50 years. They quality of their product and price is better than HD or Lowes.

Later,
Dan

 

[clemsonfor]

I don't know what it is about treated wood but trying to find good 2x4's, or even worse, 2x2's is often hard. On the other hand, if you want 2x8 or 2x10, they are very good straight lumber. If you price 2x10 cedar, have something to hold on to.

I had to replace some damaged cedar last summer on a half timbered house (custom sawn beams) and I'm still staggering from the cost.

Cause the round wood used to saw SYP treated 2x4x8's comes from small Chip N Saw sized wood to the superpulpwood that is under 10"s at the but, round! If you think in your head they only want to cut a few 2x4s per superpulp tree to pay off. Often they have wayne and they crook, sweep or bow as they are often times young trees, less than 25yrs old and the percentage of juvinile wood is high, which is the most demintionaly unstable part of the tree.

Yes im a forester. And its a sign of the times and what is grown as to what the quality in the stores are. In my area we have a family sawmill that supplys many of the treated wood. The quality is great compared to GP or others. But they have lots of old growth of their own they cut and they also dont buy the small junk the others do. They also get small business setasides from the forest service, so they have good quality roundwood going in and a good product that leaves.

 

[jeffreythree]

My local Lowe's store has 2x6x8 rough cedar planks for $10.27 each. 2x6x12 rough planks are $19.06 each. 4x4x8 rough cedar posts are $15 each. Because the lumber will be so straight and easy to work, I think paying a bit of a premium could save you a lot of grief in the long run. if you can use 1x6x?? lumber, it's even much cheaper and will be smooth boards. If a 4' x 8' raised bed is what you want, you could buy one post and three 2x6x8 and put in each bed for less than $50 each. That's a bargain in my book for nice lumber that won't twist and bow and double-crown like some treated lumber.

I did exactly that for 2 4x8 beds this past spring and putting in 2 more soon the same way, except I skipped the posts. The PT pine was just to junky looking everywhere I looked to justify the small price break. Felt a little guilty since I have a mill and some eastern red cedar, but it is just to pretty to stick on the ground and hide with dirt.

 

[DAY]

If- a BIG if- you have access to some locust trees you could notch up some 6"-8" logs and build a 'log cabin' garden bed. No need to chink, your soil will fill in. I say locust because it won't rot. I recently pulled up a fence post that had been in the ground for about 14 years, and it had only rotted a half inch. I cut off the part that was in the ground, and it looked like it was felled yesterday!

 

[Scooby074]

That's what my greenhouse is! 10' x 10', 4' x 6' CCA sill, 1 4x4 post on the south end, two on the north, a 2x10 ridge board down the center w/holes for the 1' schedule 40 pvc pipe, 1/2" rebar through the sill & up the pipe a ways. Used aluminum storm door on the north. double wall (greenhouse film) plastic has to be replace every couple of years, inflated with a small dble. squirrel cage fan, pulling air from outside. ~~ grnspot

:thumbsup: nice. A little fancier then i plan on building (at least at first) Im just thinking some hoops and plastic to extend the season? No lights or anything.

Jim: Cedar locally is pretty rare, so most is sold fully dressed. Rough would be cheaper. I wonder if 1x would be stiff enough to hold the sides from bowing, without having to stake it every few feet?

Dan: there is a local PT plant. But i think theyre wholesale only.

clemsonfor: Exactly. I worked in a pulp/sawmill. Sawlogs (thanks to optimisers and twinsaws/gangsaws) are smaller than ever. We were sawing what would be considered pulp a few years ago.

And dont forget the curvesaw.... Stuff that was wicked twisted would get pulled (bent) straight through the saw. All fine and good, till you take the straps off!!! Twist Ahoy!.

 

[jinman]

I'm thinking about a raised bed that is lined with corrugated metal as shown below. If the metal is screwed to 1x4 cedar, it will add strength/stiffness to the wall structure. Place a few short posts at the corners. These don't even have to go into the ground. You can lift the structure off the soil once growing season is over. I believe this type of structure would be fine for small flower and/or vegetable bedding. The hardest part will be cutting cross-sections of corrugated metal and screwing them to the frames. Once sides and ends are built, they can be stood up and bolted/screwed/nailed to the posts.

 

[dmccarty]

I'm thinking about a raised bed that is lined with corrugated metal as shown below. If the metal is screwed to 1x4 cedar, it will add strength/stiffness to the wall structure. Place a few short posts at the corners. These don't even have to go into the ground. You can lift the structure off the soil once growing season is over. I believe this type of structure would be fine for small flower and/or vegetable bedding. The hardest part will be cutting cross-sections of corrugated metal and screwing them to the frames. Once sides and ends are built, they can be stood up and bolted/screwed/nailed to the posts.

That is a good idea. The corrugated metal here is in 8 and 12 foot lengths and 26 inches wide which would make a decent sized raised bed. Course one could use the colored plastic corrugated roof panels as well. Build a wood frame to hold the panel to make it look batter and cover the edges. That would work real well. Great Idea. :thumbsup:

Later,
Dan

 

[Mounted Madness]

I know the should burn/shouldn't burn arguement is always up for debate, but consider this...

If you have poison ivy on your property, and you remove it by whatever means, pile it up and burn it...don't do it. The oils that are in the poison ivy that are 'poison' and cause inflammation of your skin, are now volatile and can be inhaled. Imagine the damage done by poison ivy on your breathing, your lungs, etc.

Point being, if its toxic to bugs and fungus, burning it isn't a good plan.

Just saying...

 

[duanekeys]

I keep an eye on the local lumber yard's cull pile. I can usually buy it for under a hundred bucks and I've built numerous things on the farm by cutting down crooked 16' board down to usable straight lengths. Most of our garden's raised beds are made from untreated 2x8's. It looks like there going to last one more season, so about 5 years out of them.

Also, I have a friend that works for a siding and window place. They give away their old pallets (12'x4') and I've taken a many trailer loads home to disassemble with the sawsall. Each pallet had three 12' long oak 2x4s and at least 6 or so rough cut 1x on the tops.

Here's a photo of a table in the greenhouse made of one of the pallets (literally just slapped legs on the pallet):

Here's a photo of kidding stalls I built for our goats out of the pallet material:

 

[jinman]

Duane, that's a very good use for pallets which often just sit around and rot. Those stalls look like a very nice application and plenty strong.:thumbsup: