This is my second year with a SFG. My first year boxes were made of the plain 'ol cheapie 2x6 untreated wood, I don't remember exactly what they were... some kind of pine or fir surely. I followed the instructions in my Square Foot Gardening book fairly closely in terms of trying to do this on the cheap. I am replacing those beds this year because they've split, cracked and otherwise started to rot already. Not sure if that was because of the wood or because of the overly cold and wet summer we had last year. My husband and I are starting again, doing three 4x8 by 12" boxes this year, of cedar using some of those aluminum bed corners you can buy online. The corners are expensive and are certainly not a must-have, but we figure it will easier to replace one board if needs be or expand the beds. We hope that will last for several years as opposed to what we did last year. We both have rather limited free time. We did save money the first year...but if I had to put a price tag on the time we spent building the garden last year on top of the time we're having to spend rebuilding this year, I'd say we didn't save much. If its possible to spend some $$ on materials that will last a long time in your area...I'd recommend it.

Moisture Barrier 101, Class trun off all devices you brought with you the ipods,lap tops,cell phones and all the stupid time wasting things you have in those purple back packs I am only going to say this one time and one time only. Pick it up now or fail the Course Ipe is moisture cranky in the first few important weeks because>>> the preasure treated lumber has a lot of water in it from the treatment plant,add to this its mostly yellow pine that is movement prone in the sun anyway and really open grain thats why they use it to pump all that copper and water into it. If a person seals the ipe on all four sides,or pre treats at all...A during construstion its going to get really beat up..B the wood will be hampered in its breathing,remember when you started this class?? thats right wood has to breath...Martha Zolinkisi!!! get that plug out of your ear!!!! you think I cant see that??? another bump and run like that and your headed back to the shop clean up!! Lets start up with those two givens,,using construston adhesive on the joists helps leval out uneaven framing that is the norm with pt lumber,it adds a little hold down power,and protects the ipe from the fast escaping water in the first few important weeks or moons while at the same time lets the ipe take a breath when it has to. This combined with cross vintalation in the skirting gives this high dollor and most execlent material the respect it has coming.Doing all we can to keep it from cupping and buckling. All you young people are the Furture of Construstion, I am proud of every one of you,That includes you Martha, The big test is next week,ride hard, ride safe,stay away from the high side,and Get Er Done!!! John

I purchased some Ipe decking and my ends are splitting worse than Griffse. Is this normal as I have never built a deck with anything other than pressure treated? How much end split is too much? I asked the company I bought it from, Eastteak.com, and they said end splitting is normal. I asked two different people there the same question and they both agreed….but obviously I am still concerned. Will it continue to split? I did not use end sealant, should I put it on now or does that only work during construction? Should I put a oil on to stop it? One coat..two coats.????and what type of oil is best? Could I use polyurethane to totally seal the wood? I was thinking marine polyurethane but a gallon of it is a bit expensive because it doesn’t seem that it covers a lot of square feet because the finish is thick.

Let me offer up an alternative. I live in the Pacific NW, so cedar is commonly available, but the quality has declined because much of the reasonably priced stuff is now from fast-growing tree plantations and is not as rot resistant. I have a large number of 12" high raised beds, and I considered making them from cedar, but didn't want to rebuild every several years. After thinking this over, I decided to go with "composite lumber," specifically Trex. It's a wood-resin product that is highly rot resistant, and the first beds I made out of it are 7-8 years old and show no signs of deterioration. Most of my beds are about 4' X 8' and 11" high, and are held together with coated, exterior deck screws. The material comes in a variety of wood-like colors, and is an actual 1" thick X 5-1/2" high, so to get the height I want edI used it two planks high. It has a bit more flex to it than equivalently dimensioned wood, so I simply ripped some 2-1/2" strips from a plank of it and used them as cross bracing: I mounted them transversely at the midpoint of the 8' sides, and halfway up so that they span the seam where the two lengths butt against one another. This prevents bowing of the sides, and also keeps the two boards on the long sides perfectly aligned. So, for a 4' X 8' raised bed, the structure consists of two 4' X 4' sections, but the cross bracing is hidden by the dirt. The thing I like besides the fact that the material is very rot resistant is that it never warps. It also comes in lengths up to 20' and right now I am actually making some 5-1/2" high by 2' X 20' raised tomato beds, with cross bracing about every 4'. The best price I've found on these boards is about $2.50 a running foot, so they are more expensive than wood...but never having to buy materials again or needing to build them again in the future makes it economical in the long run. If you decide to go this route, be aware that there are several board designs: some have a wavy back and some have slits in the edges for concealed fasteners when you use them for decking, and some are just a plain board shape, which is what I use; they look like this: Trex composite decking The other thing is that you can special order these in 1" X 12", which I didn't know when I built mine years ago. The obvious advantage is that construction would be easier because you wouldn't have to stack two of them to get a 11-12" height.