I wouldn't use wood. You might consider something like poured concrete or brick... or landscape stone of some sort (bluestone slabs on edge, for instance). But another option is to get the kind of marble or granite slab that is used for countertops - even the manufactured materials of that sort are good. There is a marble/stone shop near me that always puts its off-cuts into the alley and a lot of my raised beds are sided with long narrow pieces I got there for free. But for that price they don't match, and I work with the sizes I get, or the odd time pay to have it cut (we've also done some cuts with a diamond blade). If you wanted to pay for it, you could order pieces to size and pick a material with an optimal thickness. The regular thickness can be a bit fragile in some applications - and long thin pieces are that application. Obviously it needs to be held upright in place somehow too. Finally, isn't there something on the market like a plastic wood? Trex or something? Can that be used in soil? Karin L

Thanks for all of the responses. I will keep everything updated, but considering the soil temperature is sitting at 35.1 F right now, I can't really see much going in very soon :-) husker: the larger garden occupies all of my gardening time, as you can see from this photo at the end of last year: This small kitchen garden is intended for my wife and 4 year old daughter to look after. To that end, it is much easier to use a raised bed for them. Also, given the location close to the house, I wanted something that fit in with the rest of the yard. Thanks, Michael

Well, I went out to the garden last night at about 9:30pm and found about 15 plants uprooted again. No sign of surface digging or any other disturbance to the soil. I replanted them again and when I returned to the garden this morning, it was a disaster. Half of the plants were uprooted and there were a few little "piles" of plants away from where they were planted. No damage to the plants at all..not chewed, eaten, etc., just uprooted and scattered. Some were pulled almost all of the way into the ground like I reported before. I really need help on this, as I have no idea what is happening! Thanks...

I think treated lumber is not good for food crops due to the leaching of chemicals into the soil. I think it is OK if you line the bed with a thick plastic sheeting as someone said above. There are inexpensive plastic boards that look like wood, or are part of a kit for a raised bed. I have found reasonably priced ones at Sam's Club, possibly at a regular Walmart, and at Gardener's Supply online. Some of gardener's supply are expensive and there are shipping costs to consider. If you use untreated wood, the thing is it will rot over time, but can still last a few years and you just replace as you need to. You might want to do a search for "lasagna gardening" which is a way to smother the grass before you start a raised bed, and also add organic matter and nutrients to your bed. You can easily kill the grass by laying just some bags of soil or compost or mulch down and very shortly the grass underneath will be dead. The size should not be too wide, becoz then you have to walk on the bed to harvest, so usually 4 ft wide is the most that's recommended. There are different depth recommendations depending on what you want to grow, like tomatoes and carrots vs lettuce and radishes. Deeper is good, but why waste soil esp if you have to buy bags of it, so I think most people do 8 to 12 inches. Have fun!