Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Sep 19, 2010 12:32 am Which of the below would you consider for many raised vegetable garden beds, why? Styrofoam, Construction Adhesive, Rendered? Treated Pine Sleepers bolted together? Colorbond Zincalume Roofing, H3 Structural Timber ? Durasheet Cladding, H3 Structural Timber? Besser Blocks? - We are looking for multiple raised garden beds, and looking at options as to cost, and the better material. - Each of the above has differing costs, and differing issues (Arsenic for CCA treated pine, Corrosion for Colorbond, Setup for Besser blocks, they all have some issues). Of the above, which would you use (or if none, what would you use?) Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 2Sep 19, 2010 1:06 am Colourbond What corrosion are you referring to?? I went outside once. The graphics were alright, but the gameplay sucked! Settlement:22nd June Slab:27th August Frame:16th Sept Bricked:21st Oct Roof:24th Nov Linings HANDOVER23rd March! Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 3Sep 19, 2010 7:15 am How high are you going? Besserblocks would be my choice. Blocks will last a hundred years, no or little maintenace, you can render, paint anything you like. If cost is an issue start slowly. As for your heights, if you go too high eg. above .5m you might have to look at Council approval, engineers etc. The initial outlay does hurt however you want something that is going to last and actually look good at the same time. If you are only going a couple of courses high you could lay them yourself with a little know-how. Or you might be able to get a brickie who will do a small job for some $$$ on a weekend. Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 4Sep 19, 2010 7:42 am mecha-wombat Colourbond What corrosion are you referring to?? Won't it corrode if left in soil? There's notes on the Colorbond website that it should not be immersed as this would corrode, see here: http://www.colorbond.com/index.cfm?obje ... 59B174B69A Bunnings have them for sale though, so I'm confused as to how that would work! Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 5Sep 19, 2010 7:44 am garden lover How high are you going? Besserblocks would be my choice. Blocks will last a hundred years, no or little maintenace, you can render, paint anything you like. If cost is an issue start slowly. As for your heights, if you go too high eg. above .5m you might have to look at Council approval, engineers etc. The initial outlay does hurt however you want something that is going to last and actually look good at the same time. If you are only going a couple of courses high you could lay them yourself with a little know-how. Or you might be able to get a brickie who will do a small job for some $$$ on a weekend. The majority are 0.4 high, and 1m wide. One along the very back will be 0.8 -> 1.2m high, and 1m wide. I would have thought the height not so much of a problem (this is due to the beds you can buy - which are 0.8m high too!). Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 6Sep 19, 2010 7:48 am Depending on where you are you need council approval over a certain height. Is there a reason your going so high? Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 7Sep 19, 2010 7:59 am garden lover Depending on where you are you need council approval over a certain height. Is there a reason your going so high? 0.4m - no particular reason aside from a good height - two sleepers / two besser blocks high, half a colorbond sheet, etc.. 0.8 - 1.2m Trees and potential damage to council sewer line in the area (we need to confirm how deep their sewer line is). Ours is definitely going to be clay and not PVC, so the roots will destroy it. Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 8Sep 19, 2010 8:48 pm So with the trees - are they going to be invasive root types? There are trees and then there are trees when it comes to sewers. Ask Fu what type he would recommend for least invasive and maybe to save on height you need to cut back on the number of trees? A couple strategicly planted could do the trick. How about tall shrubs for the remainder? Just remember the higher the retaining wall the higher the outlay. You will have to reinforce it with concrete and steel if you go as high as your thinking with the higher beds. Whatever you do, dont go colourbond for these heights. It will blow out in no time for various reasons. Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 9Sep 19, 2010 9:02 pm Actually, I watched Gardening Australia today, and those black bins make great choices for dwarf variety trees - so that'll save more than a packet on that tree bed (and the bonus of being able to be relocated as well as they grow. As to the front beds. Colorbond hasn't ruled itself out completely - 400mm high, there's lots of people using it, and across the internet, some have said 2 years, others 4 years, no sign of corrosion. No material lasts forever, and using it outside it's intended purpose is contributory to it's destruction. 5 years+ - Colorbond sounds OK ? Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 10Sep 22, 2010 6:07 am If your using any timber in contact with soil must be H4 not H3. This will limit sizes of timber avalible Landscape Design & Construction http://cherub.squarespace.com/ Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 11Sep 23, 2010 8:42 pm With treated timber, at least line the sides with black tradies plastic Avoid the ongoing mass... ive debate about soil contamination from arsenic, cyanide and some other not cool nasties found in the timber Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 12Sep 23, 2010 9:54 pm An update - Colorbond wins. Thanks for the input everybody, I recall reading at some point the question posed by a forum user (not necessarily this one): "With many alternatives available, why use it? (referring to CCA timber)" Then it was just a case of finding out how long would the material last for, and we can see others showing 2, 4 years with no signs of issues - I expect longer than that as well with my different build method. Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 13Sep 23, 2010 10:45 pm Avoid having raised beds against your fence Re: What materials to use for a raised garden bed? 15Sep 24, 2010 7:31 pm PaulW Hopefully this is not a silly question, but what is the reason for this? Two of the obvious. Access to the other side of the bed. Fence might need replacing eventually. I'm going 50cm off, put down some crushed granite as some pathway around them, stop the weeds. That's a fantastic result! Happy you got it sorted out. cheers Simeon 6 8640 in the stormwater pit or the drain? Those dont look like theyd fit in the drain. Separately, the pits do get stuff in them during the course of the build. For the most… 1 7933 That sucks! Hope it all works out. Good to move away from steel anyway for all your reasons, but it's also thermally poor. 16 17875 |