Ideas for raised flowerbed needed

C

carolin

Guest
Hi everyone!

I have someone come in 2 weeks to help me do up the garden of our new house but whereas initially I had planned to install raised flower beds all around the sides of the garden using railway sleepers, I have since read warnings about their toxic impact on the soil and want to stay away from them. The big cost is also a problem while I also don't like the idea that we are cleaning out Eastern Europe.

So now I am a bit at a loss as to how else I can raise the flower beds at a reasonable cost. Someone mentioned using decking planks. How are they held together? Are there some type of 'connectors' available? I really have no idea at all. I would prefer a wood solution but would like to stay away from log rolls.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.
 
Get the pressure treated sleepers as suggested. They are smaller (2.4m x 200mm x100mm) than the old railway sleepers but cleaner cut. Will need treating with something like sadolin classic.
To get the most out of them, I have arranged them three courses high - stacked on the thin side ie. 3x200mm. You will need to get a hold of some 18mm rebar - drill holes in sleepers to accomodate rebar. Have rebar cut in lengths to suit ie. cut so that they are long enough to be run through the sleepers AND driven into the ground to hold them in place. On the top course, I have only drilled a hole half way through this sleeper - so that rebar/hole isnt visible on the top finished surface.
I will be lining the inside of the sleeper 'wall' with plastic to keep damp away. Also, have base slightly raised with stones so that moisture can drain away and they're not sitting in the wet 24/7. I hope that this will be enough to keep them from rotting away and falling apart.

Theres a good bit of work in it between cutting to size, drilling, treating with sadolin, etc - but worth it in the long run (i hope).
 
Bogota400 certainly suggests a comprehensive solution but in my experience a decent french oak sleeper is solid and heavy enough to stay in place with a lot less effort. I simply cut, stacked and joined together on the inside face with some stock roofing plates - job done!
The tricky bit is actually cutting these oak sleepers - the wood can be very hard and you'll need a quality and sharp circular saw. I used a decent [broken link removed] model but they're not cheap and a replacememt blade can cost upwards of £50. - Also a word of warning, wrongly used these tools can be very dangerous.
The sleepers are not cheap so a way of saving a bit of cash is to use something else on any unseen sides - I had a side backing up to a fence and used a section of good quality thick marine play - been inplace now for 5 years / no problems.
 
mbarters said:
in my experience a decent french oak sleeper is solid and heavy enough to stay in place with a lot less effort.
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Have never come across these. How expensive are they and are they of similar size ie. 2.4x200mmx100mm?
Do they need treating with a preservative. How well do they resist weathering?

Will have finished my little project by middle of next week and will post a couple of pics...
 
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