Did you build them with 2X12's? Is it one layer high or are there more to stack higher? Looks much easier to handle than the 4X10X4 I did this fall--first try at something that big.

They are 2x12" (what the label said, what it measures, of course is less, like only 11+"). It is just one layer. And this is UNTREATED WOOD. Treated wood is poison. I just slapped on some watered down latex paint (and that mostly to tone down the raw look of the wood). I'm going to have to do some more 'slapping' next spring hoping to extend their life, although I'm seeing first signs of woodears on some of the ends.... There are more of these bins back by the shed. One for rocks. One for 'spare' topsoil.

When I bought the house there was a kids sandbox back there: 8x8' made of 2x12'. I added another layer to that bin and turned it into a nice raised bed for asparagus! Yum!

{{gwi:318652}}

Treated wood is poison.

This seems to overstate the case. The referenced article is the best one I have found on the subject and is certainly worth a read.

Here is a link that might be useful: Does Pressure-Treated Wood Belong in Your Garden?

IMHO there is no place for pressure treated wood in my organic garden, be it raised beds or compost bins. Just because we are exposed to things like arsenic and other chemicals in a natural environment does not mean that I am going to increase the exposure. To me keeping such products off my property in the first place (and, perhaps, someone hauling it to a landfill in the future) is one more thing that I do to help the planet. After all, just because something may 'occur naturally' in the environment, does not mean it is safe. (I shy away from radium mines and lava pits too. ;-) )

For my money if there were a local distributor, I would build garden structures with silica-impregnated wood. Glass is an inert substance and does not harm the environment. I was looking for a link I had about the product, but seem to have lost it. I remember I first saw it on Ask This Old House.

Okay. Don't you guys get any SNOW?

It's white, sorta fluffy, falls from the sky, sometimes goes sideways in a strong wind, sucks cars into ditches, hurts ones back when one applies a device commonly called a shovel to it?

I've got about a foot of it now and more on the way. NOT FAIR!

And now to my OT question, Kris, second picture, at the top, is that a pile of leaves or a different CP?

Lloyd

Lloyd,
12F here, bitter blowing snow but only about 3" deep. Brrrr.
The 2nd picture (the 8x8' bin) is the raised asparagus bed made by adding a 2nd layer of wood to the existing sand box that was here on the property when I moved in 6 years ago. The asparagus has been mulched heavily with shredded leaves for the winter. The back half of the bed has 3-year-old plants. The front half was only planted last spring so very hard to see the new plants in all those leaves.
Kris

Sorry Kris, 2nd picture, first post, way in the back behind the downspout.

Lloyd

Oh, way in the back. That is a pile of wood chips that I didn't need when mulching around my CPs. This coming year those chips will be added to the paths in my vegetable garden and around the CPs. Every 3-4 years I have a load (4-5 yards) of wood chips delivered so I can renew my garden paths, etc... Last TONS longer than 'real' mulch.
Kris
P.S. kinda bogus that I have to wait so long to post an answer when the conversation is flowing right alongÂ. Hey, time for another emoticon.
:-(

Kris, why do you have to wait to post an answer?

If you change the subject of posting you can post back to back.

gnomey, Huzzah! So if I change the subject, it will post to the same thread? No new thread created? Terrific. Thank goodness because my OWN chain of thought is so short-lived as it is. *har*
Kris

time for another emoticon

slaps forehead with his own hand...Emoticon, that's what those stupid things are called!

Lloyd

Thanks for the pictures! Now, I have a better idea of what to do!

Btw, where do you get so much wood chips?

For wood chips I called around to tree trimming places and mulch places. I settled on a place that makes mulch from tree trimmings. I buy the 'half-processed' stuff that is in 'chip' stage. I buy in bulk so pay about $8/yd. Then I pay a guy with a dump trailer to haul it over to my place. It's the best deal in the long run. One year I got 7 yards of wild cherry chips. This place smelled great every time it rained!

Ah! Finally tracked down the name of the glass-impregnated wood I was looking for before. It's called TimberSil.

Next question------do you have drainage holes in the btm of your blue garbage cans? :-0 (surprise)

Nope. Since the finished compost is not wet, just moist, it doesn't need to drain. I put it in bins because I find that if I leave it on the ground for winter by May it is filled with roots from the pine trees.