Question by Jack O: What is a safe alternative to using pressure treated lumber for vegetable garden beds?
I’m making raised beds for my vegetable garden and for obvious reasons can’t use pressure treated lumber. I was thinking of using 1x10s, but cedar or redwood are not in my price range. does anyone know of anything I could do to treat pine that won’t leach into the soil and kill me? also, I have a ton of the original siding from my house (built in 1948) up in my attic. it’s about 1″ thick and 8″ wide and I have it in lengths of 8-10′ long. It’s been painted on one side, and I’m not sure what kind of wood it is. does anyone know if old siding is historically treated w/ anything nasty to make it fire resistant or age better? and would the paint pose a potential problem? the wood is in good shape, but I’m not sure how safe it would be to use. any thoughts?
Best answer:
Answer by Julie
untreated wood will rot in the soil. You can just raise your beds with a slope and no side retention. be sure to mulch well to minimize erosion. That’s what I do.
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We were worried about the same thing, so we went with untreated pine and figured if we had to replace it every few years it would be worth it. So far it has been three years and it still looks great!
Another alternative could be bricks, wall stone, retaining wall blocks but these are also pricey unless you have some hanging around from another project:)
Have you considered a composite deck material?
I just had the same problem, cedar too expensive so I used cinder blocks. A friend had a lot laying around so they were free but I don’t think there that pricey.