Thanks everybody! These are great, very helpful suggestions and I'll take them back to my veggie bed-building team.
I particularly like Diane's recipe for a natural preservative of linseed oil, beeswax, etc. and will investigate further. I think that will give us the right look at the right price without toxins. I bet the foundation stone bed is absolutely beautiful. Sounds lovely! The other challenge to this site is it's loaded with roots from two trees recently taken down. Digging is dreadful. So we're going up! I know - it's not an ideal location. But it's a compromise that allowed the project to move forward. Long story (sigh). I think we can make it work. The objective is to give the kids a great veggie-growing experience and we'll find a way to accomplish that in the location. Take care everyone:) Happy gardening! Lisa > -----Original Message----- > From: Lisa Dufresne [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 9:00 AM > To: Lisa Duchene; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Community_garden] non-toxic materials for raised beds > > 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 > > > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > > URL: > > > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.community > garden.org/attachments/20090629/ac1c0c23/attachment.html> > > _______________________________________________ > > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > > to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > > > To post an e-mail to the list: > [email protected] > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > > > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.com > munitygarden.org > > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
