Behold! My gorgeous new raised beds!! I treated them with linseed oil and they are sooo beautiful. š
These will be placed in our backyard in a few weeks.
My boyfriend is insistent that we donāt place the wood directly on the ground and wants some sort of stone/tile underneath every edge and the corner posts to prevent deterioration.
My plan was to do a 4ā pea gravel path all the way around and in between the beds with a metal edge to contain it. That path would have landscape fabric underneath it first.
I proposed that we could extend the pea gravel so the edges and corner posts of the beds would sit on that (but not covering the middle).
Heās still insistent that we need to put down some sort of tile and pea gravel and that everyone in the gardening community is totally wrong to set them on the ground.
I think both tiles/pavers and gravel is overkill. Cedar is naturally rot resistant and we should get 5-7 years from these right?
Can you please give me your thoughts on this?
And if we do go with some sort of narrow tile or thin paver – any recommendations?
THANK YOU!
by BG_ADV
24 Comments
He.. he knows the inside will be touching the ground too right? Cause it’s a raised bed frame?
No stone, no landscape fabric (the world doesnāt need more plastic). Ā Put some cardboard underneath to block weeds/grass and fill the bottom partially with woodchips to save money. Ā They will last 15-20+ years easily Ā Ā
There will be ground (dirt) inside the raised beds, so his argument is moot. I would be worried that pavers or stones underneath would impede drainage from the beds.
Nothing lasts forever, unfortunately. You’ll probably get a good 5 years out of them, whether on the soil directly or on slabs.
FWIW: I built ours out of 2×6 SPF, and I elevated them using leftover house bricks. I sprayed the planter bottoms with FlexSeal spray, I lined the interior with roofing membrane, and I coated the exterior with Raw Linseed Oil.
Put gopher wire beneath the beds, but otherwise place them on the bare ground. Donāt do landscape fabric under your pea gravel path. Itās awful and doesnāt actually stop weeds. Within a few years the fabric will be shredded into a million pieces and every time you pull a weed out of the gravel it will bring a chunk of fabric with it and your pea gravel path will be an awful mess of shredded fabric, weeds, dirt chunks and gravel. Honestly just Iād suggest you just do mulch around the beds with paver stepping stones
I put pavers under the corners of mine but that was more because I found it easier to level them that way.
Consider putting some gopher grate underneath to keep the critters out.
āThe call is coming from inside the houseā so to speak on this one. You are going to fill it with āthe groundā so whatever else you do, itās gonna deteriorate eventually.
Just gonna add, echoing other peopleās points that I would recommend no weed fabric and really donāt underestimate the importance of drainage.
Does he know youāre going to fill it completely with āgroundā so it will be touching all of it?
I would used crashed gravel instead of pea. Pea is hard to walk on, doesnāt settle like crushed gravel and so is kind like walking on beach sand, your foot sinks in. Kind slippery
they’re going to be filled with “the ground”.
is he going to spray some kind of truck bed liner inside to prevent the soil from touching the wood? why?
also, they’re beautiful, congrats.
The only reason Iād consider putting them on tiles (or something firm) would be if the ground was consistently wet, or you expect the weight of the beds to sink into the ground a little overtime, or any bit of stability.
I could see a world where the corners of the bed are āplacedā on dug in tiles or bricks, and the container itself is on the ground.
LOL AWesome pic
As a woodworker whoās made cedar beds.
Theyāre fine directly on the ground. They will rot, but itāll take years. Ours lasted a decade. Any wooden bed will rot eventually.
Iām jealous, all mine are built from recycled pallet lumber. They still look good, but not this good
Just to mention – pea gravel is terrible for paths. Use an angular (quarried) stone. This will lock together underfoot, rather than spread (and be kicked) everywhere like pea gravel. Or use bark mulch!
I think your plan works. Is he concerned about rodents?
We did shoshugibon and tung oil the a layer of gravel around the outside and shoshugibon and plastic on the inside (but not the bottom). We want ours to last >10yrs and theyāre looking great after 2y now.
Donāt do gravel or landscape fabric. Mulch with pavers for a garden is the best solution for a myriad of reasons. Alsoā¦ itās fine to set them on the ground. Maybe use the corner pavers to level it.
You need to put 10×10 wire mesh/poultry netting with tampered stone to prevent chipmunks from getting in if on are located in the north east.
Cardboard. Multiple layers of nice, thick cardboard, extending 6″ past the bottom of the planters. Wet the cardboard after you put the planters in place. Fill with a few inches of mulch, and use the same mulch to go between the planters for the path. It will last longer than you may think, and the cardboard will attract beautiful worms to your beds. I built in 12 beds, 8′ Ć 4′, 30″ deep, and filled in with a hugelkultur, or “lasagna” layering. Be prepared to top off with lots more soil and compost after around 8 months because it’ll settle and compact.
Well, I can tell you than my cheap wood bed made out of used pine 2x4s are now 21 years old and still pretty fine. I had to reinforce the corners a decade ago. They’re not sitting in puddles, but that’s about all the care I took with them.
It’s cedar. It’s already as rot resistant as it’s gonna get.