wood for raised beds

theGrinch

Hi, Im looking to construct some raised beds for privet or yew hedging.

Can someone suggest some durable wood varieties for this project at different price levels?

many thanks

selyts

Lots of people around my allotment use scaffolding boards from local suppliers for raised beds (cheap and hard wearing) but I don't know if they would be suitable for privet or yew hedging.

forgotmyname

If you need something stringer than scaffolding boards try railway sleepers.

Davesnave

You need raised beds for yew & privet?

Privet grows in virtually anything and yew isn't far behind, even tolerating chalk.

Anyway, you know what you want to do.

For a raised bed, I'd just use 150 x 22 mm tanalised boards screwed to 50 x 47mm (2" x 2") uprights, pointed and driven in about 0.25m. Not the cheapest, but I only do jobs once.

theGrinch

Davesnave wrote: »

You need raised beds for yew & privet?

Privet grows in virtually anything and yew isn't far behind, even tolerating chalk.

unfortunately, we have very little more than hardstanding and stones.

I popped into the timber merchants today and I will definitely go with your advice for the raised beds.

Davesnave

theGrinch wrote: »

unfortunately, we have very little more than hardstanding and stones.

Ah.... I didn't realise it might be quite that bad!

Provided you are not on solid concrete, something will be possible, but you'll have to water for some time in dry (?) weather. Try to break up the hardstanding as best you can where you're planting, or even half set the beds into it so they're not standing a whole 150mm proud.

If it were me, I'd try the privet first and see how it goes. Yew is expensive stuff to have fail on you. I grew my yew from the smallest size plants in a nursery bed and transplanted them after a year. I had some failures initially, possibly due to handling at the suppliers, but they came well packed. No failures in the plants I transplanted though.

rum1

You cant beat old railway sleepers they look when finished. Ive used 15 in my garden and they have been in place now for about 5 years with no problems

grannyjo

scaffolding boards are cheap- locally about £3 each for ones that are no longer fit for scaffolding-but if you have a supplier check to choose the least damaged. I used them and put wood preservative on but they won't last for ever. Tannalised wood is generally guaranteed not to rot for about 10 years. Have you thought about breeze blocks but you would have to leave drainage holes. Is it against a wall or between gardens? If you go down a breeze block/ stone route you can do them like a dry stone wall packing them with soil but the walls must taper in. You could grow rockery plants up the sides- - but you can do that with wood also. I saw one project where people had built walls of plastic milk containers filled with water- and another of glass bottles on their sides - both looked great.
good luck whatever you decide. - also stick a few twigs of privet and yew(?) in a pot - about 9ins and two thirds in the soil. leave outside and its amazing how many grow on. That will give you plants at no cost.- I remember my mother making a 100m hedge of copper beech by just sticking twigs about 2ft long in the soil and nearly everyone rooted.

Davesnave

grannyjo wrote: »

I remember my mother making a 100m hedge of copper beech by just sticking twigs about 2ft long in the soil and nearly everyone rooted.

I don't want to question your memory, but beech is very difficult from cuttings, so people who might try to strike some should be aware of that.

grannyjo

getting a bit off the subject-but perhaps my mum was lucky but that hedge was there for the 11 years I lived there and I helped her put it in- interesting though that they are difficult to strike. Coming back to any type of shrub cuttings its worth a go if all it takes is putting twigs in the ground or a pot and saves a lot especially if you are waiting for a bed to mature or be built.

DaftyDuck

I seem to remember (and my memory may also be faulty) that beech is much easier to strike on soil where beech is or was recently grown. Isn't beech particularly fussy about mycorrhizal fungi? I certainly had a slow start to my beech hedge at the last house I owned... never did do too well. Anyway, that might help explain why some people make beech take, and others don't.. ...


Edit ...oh, and my hedge was from supplied 3-year-olds.. the plants, not the supplier!