Sign up now for your FREE Newsletter. You will receive a Newsletter twice a month providing tips, techniques, and fun projects for your garden. Sign up now
Sign up now.
Many gardeners have used treated wood to frame raised beds. But as recent research has demonstrated, arsenic in the treatment leaches into soil and is taken up by plants' roots. So what can you use to frame garden beds instead?
Use a naturally rot-resistant wood such as cedar.
Trex lumber is made from recycled plastic and wood scraps, comes in standard sizes and can be found at hardware stores and lumber yards.
Use ordinary, untreated lumber to frame your beds. In most climates, it will last three to five years before rotting, just about the time for you to replenish the soil and rebuild the bed.
Make your own wood preservative with a recipe from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory. You'll find a link to this recipe in Related Articles (located in the top left hand corner of this page).
Or, skip the frames altogether. We think there's something simply appealing about beds that gently slope down to the paths between them.
Non-Toxic Wood Preservative Recipe The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Products Laboratory has developed this recipe for preserving lumber used aboveground (such as for fences and picnic tables). The treatment is also safe for wood to be used in the ground?that is, it won't leach toxic chemicals into your garden soil?and the wood will last longer than if left untreated.
Here's the recipe (and please be sure to follow it carefully):
Melt 1 ounce of parrafin wax in a double boiler (DO NOT heat over a direct flame).
Off to the side, carefully place slightly less than a gallon of solvent (mineral spirits, paint thinner or turpentine at room temperature) in a bucket, then slowly pour in the melted parrafin, stirring vigorously.
Add 3 cups exterior varnish or 1.5 cups boiled linseed oil to the mix, stirring until the ingredients are blended. When it cools, you can dip your lumber into this mixture or brush it onto the wood.
