I think Cedar is the most weather resistant, but also the most expensive.

I used Green Douglas Fir 2x6s. Not too expensive and somewhat resistant to the elements.

lots of stuff out there to use, see our bale agrden and check further for roofing edged gardens

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens bale garden

Many alternatives but there is also no reason why you can't use pressure treated wood either. Pressure treated wood hasn't been treated with arsenic (the reason it was prohibited) since 2002 and the newer PT woods are commonly used now where it was prohibited before.

Otherwise there are decorative stone, concrete blocks, old railroad ties, landscape timbers, bricks, the newish composite woods like Tyvek, plastics, redwood, cedar, etc. Just depends on how much money you want to spend.

Dave

I agree:
== cedar lumber is an option.
== Pressure treated landscaping lumber or other kinds are other alternatives.

== cinder blocks and various landscaping blocks, bricks, stones are also other alternaive. But all in all, lumber is a more practical option and is easy to handle , build and incorporate.

But another aspect of it is, how does it blend into the environment and what your preferences are.

I have made some from 5/8"by 6" by 5ft cedar. Stacking two of them makes roughly one foot deep bed. A 2 1/2ff by 5 ft layout cost Under $!5.00 including hardware and corner lumber.

here is a pictures

I like the look of the cobble stones, and they seem to help heat up the soil in the spring (something that's pretty important here in Portland, OR).

example of landscape timber beds for you.

these are 2, 2x4x16.

Ed

ejdiv those are 4x4's not 2x4's. Very nice beds.

Here in CA we have good prices for redwood, I typically do 2x6 stacked two high.

hi melike,

I know the timbers are not 2x4 :) closer to 6x6 I believe

there are 2 beds that are 2' high x 4' wide x 16' long.

Ed

This post was edited by ejdiv on Wed, Jul 31, 13 at 21:43

I see now :)

6x6 wow. Very nice/sturdy. A 4x4x8' heart redwood is 20$ here in San Jose, would be costly to make a bed like that but nice.

Ooh, Ejdiv, I love your raised beds. Very nice!

Osage Orange is legendary for surviving soil contact. Black locust is almost as good.

See if you can find either one. Nothing wrong with using untreated douglas fir (or whatever they have where you live) in thick dimensions. It will last for a few years or even 5 years. Then you rebuild.

Don't forget to staple hardware cloth to the bottom if you have gophers where you live. I also use galvanized metal straps on the corners of mine to keep the edges from separating.

I mostly make by beds out of 2x6 douglas fir. I have one or two made out of 2x6 redwood for comparison, but they are quite new. If you use 4x4's they will take longer to rot out, but it will be more expensive and heavier to deal with.

I design my beds to be exactly 4 feet wide on the outside so that I can use 4 foot wide rolls of hardware cloth. I use 8 foot lumber for the long edges.

In my climate, with dry summers, I expect the fir to last around 5 years, but I don't yet have 5 years of experience with them yet, so we shall see. I expect to use the hardware cloth for at least 10 years, which is good, because it is expensive!

Oregon state did a study with many types of wood fenceposts. There are a lot of rot resistant woods out there. But Osage Orange was the only one that had zero failures during the whole 50 years they did the study. In other words, 100 percent of the Osage Orange fence posts they installed in the beginning of the study were still serviceable 50 years later.

I've added a link to the study in case it is of interest. Obviously the climate is different from yours where the study was done.

McKenzie

Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon State fencepost study

I know the timbers are not 2x4 :) closer to 6x6 I believe
there are 2 beds that are 2' high x 4' wide x 16' long.
Ed
**************************************

Ed, nice beds. Did you make them yourself ?
I am asking because :
It cannot be 2' tall (!!). Even if 3 nominal 8" x8" lumbers are stacked up, will not be 2 ft tall , Three 6" x6".stacked will be no more than 17" tall.
But whatever it is, looks very nice but it must have cost a fortune.

My costs on square foot basis of area(12" height ) is $1.20/sqr-ft. In other words, I spent about $130 . to make a total of 110 square foot of garden. from 5/8" thick cedar boards. And I spend about the same on top soil, compost, manure, peat moss. I approached the simple natural lood with the most economical option. With the lumber, hardware, filler, TOTAL COST less than 300 bucks for 112 square foot area. Of course, I did not pay myself anything to do this..hehe

hi seysonn,

I did make them and they are about 2' tall... its four courses not 3... i'll attach another picture that might be more clear.

you definitely got me beat on the cost/ft2... these took 40 timbers at 20 a piece... the rest of it was pretty cheap. 10" timberloks tie it together. the overhead parts are just emt and some deer netting and I borrowed a bobcat from a buddy to fill them with this 'vege blend' soil I had trucked in.

Ed