Vegetable bed

[Stealthwolf]

Swmbo wants me to grow some veg. I plan to make some 1x1m beds to plant in. I was going to use some wood from the likes of B&Q but swmbo wants it untreated as chemicals may peach. I looked at the cost of railway sleepers but it works out to £300.

What can I use that would be suitable?

[big-all]

bricks slabs or rocks perhaps as non treated timer unless its expensive hardwood may only last perhaps 2 or 3 years
i use treated wooden gravel boards to make planters no problems

[Duck_Tape]

I used off cut decking boards to create planters, the weeds are thriving

[mikew1972]

3'x2' concrete or stone flags on edge buried at least 9"?
Concrete gravel boards for fencing?

Decking board as above works OK as do sleepers but both are treated.
Not much point in doing it with untreated wood. It will only last a couple of years.

[Grendel]

Scaffold boards seem to be popular and relatively cheap. Even cheaper , well free , ready made but perhaps not so visually appealing is large builders sand bags. Concrete gravel boards are another longer lasting option. Perhaps you should ask why you wish to use raised beds , you'll need to source an awful lot of soil to fill them and growing straight in the ground is often just as good . Apart from a few in containers pretty much all my veg is at ground level with very little problem.

[davyp1]

Grendel is right and has a good point!
Mark out a piece of ground as if you were going to make a raised bed and
dig it over, starting at one end and removing all weeds as you go. It's a
good idea too to stone-pick as you go.
When cleared of all weeds, go over the ground you have dug alternatly with
the rake and the hoe until you have a fine tilth.
Then get yourself off to the garden centre and buy some seeds!
Look sharp or you will have missed most dates for seed sowing!

davyp1

[boxedin]

You can also use pallet collars stacked on top of each other dont think the wood is treated.
Here is an example
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raised-Flower ... SwXYtY4PRn

[Stealthwolf]

Scaffold boards are a great idea. Don't need much height - more just to keep the soil contained. I'm using a border area and it slopes down to the path.

[wine~o]

Raised bed you deffo need treated wood.. I used deck boards for my raised beds, they don't leach into the soil (much)

[Grendel]

Although of course even treated wood will rot away at some point depending on what it is treated with , some treatments aren't intended for use in the ground.
Some timbers are naturally resistant , elm for instance has been used for water pipes , gutters , coffins and boardering but is hardly likely to be cheap nowadays. Alder is another , grows in the wet and can withstand wet conditions but again difficult and probably expensive to source.
I'd personally go with the concrete gravel boards , no rotting or leaching. I'm slowly replacing any wooden boardering with concrete in my garden.

[Like_knowlege]

Depends on where you are based. I got my untreated oak sleepers from :

http://www.thompsonsofcrewshill.com/Sleepers.html

Around £40 for a sleeper which has the following dimensions: 200cm x 22cm x 13cm. These weigh around 80kg each and I even spoke to the soil society and they informed me to buy the thickest wood I could as it will last longer. It has been a year since building my raised bed and there is zero signs of rotting. I researched pressure treated timber and it contains chemicals which in time will leech. This was the best option I found

[Stealthwolf]

I ended up using scaffold boards and timbalok screws. I've put one together. Just need to dig out space for the second one, sieve the soil and fill.