Cheapest place to buy a raised veg bed

silverwhistle

Lovely pics but if that is this year's basil I hate you!:-) I really have problems bringing it on, don't know how I manage it whether inside or out.

Just to underline Davenave's comment that most pallets are untreated except for heat treatment - HT stamped on the blocks, and I use these to make kindling and burn the solid blocks. Older pallets used other chemicals, some of which have now been banned and I certainly wouldn't burn MB stamped pallets or have them near growing things..

For my allotment I bought 3m gravel boards which were the best value and being lazy one cut then results in a 3mx1.5m bed which works for me. Best value for the corner posts is B&M and they also have other good value stakes, compost and other garden stuff. 

Davesnave

silverwhistle said:

Lovely pics but if that is this year's basil I hate you!:-) I really have problems bringing it on, don't know how I manage it whether inside or out.

God invented basil to keep experienced gardeners humble about their achievements, or lack of them.

Nowadays, however, the big compost companies have taken over that job, supplying a medium so full of composted waste that it's virtually impossible to get results mirroring those in the old days.

-taff

And that's why our own is good

As for basil, my cousin in italy sent pictures of her veg and herbs growing to my sister who then sent them to me. To say I am jealous is an understatement. She did say it's been hot there but still. The basil is outside and growing in massive clumps with huge leaves, the parsely has gone mental, the tomatoes are four times the size of mine and mine are about two foot now and the courgettes are pretty muc fully grown.

Phooey.

dllive

After much deliberation, I think Id like to go for a 'pretty' look. So sleepers it is. Can I just 'lego' sleepers together, or would you suggest fixing them together somehow?

Wheres the best (viz-a-viz 'cheapest') place to buy sleepers from? Or I suppose thick gravel/scaffolding planks will do. Mole Valley is coming in at £30 per sleeper. Ill need 8 (per bed) so it soon adds up! 
http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store/products/pressure-treated-softwood-rustic-sleeper

In theory, how long would the cheaper 'untreated' sleepers last? 10 years? 2 years? 20 years? 6 months?

olgadapolga

-taff said:
 the tomatoes are four times the size of mine and mine are about two foot now 

I stupidly read this as that the actual fruit were two feet, rather than the plants themselves (but I have an excuse as I had a head injury last year)...

dllive

Ive just found these which I think looks nice; easy to put together (apparently); and a fraction of the cost of sleepers:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/488535886/deluxe-raised-bed-vegetable-garden?ref=shop_home_active_15&frs=1&crt=1
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/583351094/rectangle-garden-raised-bed-8-colours?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=raised+veg+bed&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1&frs=1
However, considering their pine, do you think they have a life expectancy of jump a couple of years? I thought you shouldnt used tantalized wood because it leaches chemicals into the soil?

-taff

tanalised wood lats longer. However, the beauty of sleepers is they take a vey long time to rot as opposed to smaller thicknesses of wood

I've lego'd raised beds in the front and back garden with different thicknesses of wood [ one sleeper bed, a few 4x4 beds, and they've all been lego blocked [so the layer on top of the bottom layer turns 90 degrees each time] and screwed with screwfix decking screws with hex heads and 200ml. Nothing has moved yet. The front garden one with sleepers untreated has been there for three years and still looks pretty pristine.

dllive

-taff said:

I've lego'd raised beds in the front and back garden with different thicknesses of wood [ one sleeper bed, a few 4x4 beds, and they've all been lego blocked [so the layer on top of the bottom layer turns 90 degrees each time] and screwed with screwfix decking screws with hex heads and 200ml. Nothing has moved yet. The front garden one with sleepers untreated has been there for three years and still looks pretty pristine.

Where did you get your sleepers from @-taff ? I was going to go to Mole Valley, but theyre about £30 each. These are the cheapest Ive found:
https://www.lawsons.co.uk/category/landscaping/railway-sleepers/softwood-sleepers
https://www.bradfords.co.uk/softwood-sleeper-2-4m-x-200-x-100mm-gsl015
If I use 8 sleepers per bed (2 sleepers tall which gives me ~20cm depth) it will be about £128. Buying an existing kit from Etsy is about half that.

Apodemus

I wonder if you are over analysing all this!  I used the cheapest tanalised boards from B&Q, held together at the corners by a couple of the plastic blocks for kitchen cabinets. Three 1.8m boards per bed: one for each side and one cut in half for the ends.  One saw cut and a few screws and your in business.

15 years on and they are still perfectly serviceable, however I am replacing them with slightly wider and thicker hardwood planks that I got from a neighbour who was ripping out his old flooring.

-taff

I got my sleepers from a local wood merchant and fetched them in my car. If you don't have a big enough car, you could take a saw and cut them there before you take them away [ or ask nicely, they might cut them for you] and the 4x4s were wombled from somewhere.