I have personally use landscape timbers (1/2 trees as phil v has mentioned). I've used these as a small raised garden bed at my mothers house about 6 years ago. I have learned more as I go but found that the best way to build a 3 layer wall is to: 1 Vary the lengths of the boards so the seems don't match up. 2 over lap the corners so you can drill down through them and run a 4' length 1/2" rebar through all layers. 3 run a total of 3 or more lengths of rebar into each board. 4 On the inside wall of the structure, pound in some treated 2x4 posts. Then drill them to the wall to help maintain their shape to hold what you fill it with. 5 use 10" exterior spikes to connect your layers together if you plan on leaving them there as a longterm fixture in the landscape. I Then stained the wood to match the exterior of my mother's house and was all done. Now, looking back, I wish I knew to do this myself. But, you learn as you go. I just fixed up the wall this year on Mother's Day for her and it looks as good a new where I hadn't connected the corners with the rebar. Good luck

Just remember, RR ties get to be heavy after a while. If you are lifting them and they're light-weight, the core's already been eaten out by termites. RR ties are fine in some areas, I don't recommend them around your house just because of the termite vector, especially here in the south. If it's a large, mounded bed, veggies up in center where water's always washing down really isnt a problem. But I would not plant veggies immediately behind RR ties. At least a few rows back where you have maybe marigolds and garlic and onions in front as pest deterants would be the minimum distance I'd put tomatoes back from RR ties, just knowing cresote chemistry and leaching. But again, a raised bed with mounded soil will limit much of the back-leaching and instead have it flow down and away from your plants anyway. The more vertical clearance past the RR ties down to the ground the better, as it will encourage a 'safer' removal of the cresote. Otherwise, busted up concrete and hauling off rocks from construction sites works for me. I've only bought some cobblestone pavers to edge out central areas I'm around a lot, and use the rougher stuff elsewhere.

The Term-a-Rid mulch says it lasts longer than most mulch, but I didn't see any claim of a certain amount of time. It was $4.98 a bag at Wal*Mart, the same price as the cedar mulch I probably should've bought. It kills termites by use of boron, which is supposedly safe to use around pets and children. I should have mentioned that the mulched bed is against the concrete-slab *patio*, not the actual house, and the patio extends about 15 feet out from the house. That doesn't count as the "foundation" does it? Gary, I'm in Breckenridge. I've seen "water bugs" (actually Oriental Cockroaches, according to the link below) everywhere from Villanova, PA, to Abilene, TX, usually in gas station restrooms or the like. They're N-A-S-T-Y. Maybe you're in *deep* West Texas, where it's too dry for them? Or maybe you go to nicer gas stations? Seriously, they were in my dorm in PA (where I woke up with a BIG one tangled into my long hair!) and in clean, expensive houses, too, which is what scares me. These railroad ties are very old and the creosote is no longer visible on most of them. They're rotting and there are LOTS of roly-polies and other creatures. I haven't actually seen any termites; just trying to be cautious. And if I saw a centipede, I'd RUN. The more legs something has, the more creeped out I get, plus I've heard they have one heck of a sting. The creosote brings me to another question: could the chemicals which are used in the railroad ties be unsafe to use near veggies & herbs? Is creosote toxic? Barb, you're my hero--I can handle snakes, mice, etc., but to squash a grub with my bare hands--no way. (((shudder))) This girl does NOT do bugs well. In fact, this whole thread is giving me major heebie-jeebies. While I was looking through bug identification websites a few minutes ago, I thought I felt something on my arm and I almost jumped out of my skin! You're right though; the more I garden, the less freaked out I get by them. Here is a link that might be useful: Oriental Roaches, a.k.a.

I would say alot of places are good for them, the ties are old and rotten out so theres alot of voids. I know lizards live inside them and i have seen other bugs as well. I really dont want to fill in the cracks with silicone or anything like that as it will just look ugly. At this point new cracks and voids arent too common, unless more of the wood rots and forms new voids and cracks. It appears they nest between the ties, they crawl in about 2' from the soil so i take it they are living in the ties and not the soil. its hard to tell though.