I had to laugh when I first saw this. I wondered why an email on this topic
was coming from ME! But I spell my name slightly different..
so I've used several species of wood that last pretty long (cherry, and of
course cedar) but believe it or not, pine can last five to six years too
without rotting. However, oak and maple are very bad and rot pretty quickly.
I know your design calls for wood, but you can raise the bed via double
digging and then you don't need to have sides, it's just puffy in the
middle. I garden using the french intensive method which gives me permanent
five foot beds and three foot paths to either side, and that's a great
design for permanent raised beds that are six to eight inches higher than
the paths but have no sides. I've also got one strawberry bed that's raised
using old foundation stone. It's gorgeous.
Lisa Dufresne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Duchene" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 4:57 PM
Subject: [Community_garden] non-toxic materials for raised beds
Happy Summer everybody:
I'm working on a project to build raised vegetable beds for a community
children's garden here in Bellefonte, Pa., and looking for non-toxic
material suggestions.
We have a design that calls for wood. We budgeted about $500. The cost of
cedar is about $650 for the wood alone. So it's time to get more creative.
Of course we want to avoid pressure-treated wood and anything that leaches
chems. And we are looking for long-term durability. Any suggestions on
another type of naturally rot-resistant wood that may be more affordable?
The additional challenge is that the garden is in our small town's
historic
district, so we have to be careful about aesthetics. i.e. - we probably
can't get away with cinder blocks in this location.
Thanks for any suggestions :-)
Best,
Lisa Duchene
~~~~~~
Lisa Duchene
Freelance writer and editor
EcoWriting ~ Covering the
Business of Sustainability
(814) 357-0289
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