Any ideas on what’s the best place to either buy ready made raised beds, or materials to make one? If the latter which material is best?

Looking to get the kids interested and involved in growing stuff in the garden.

I just got some scaffold boards (from local reclaim place) and knocked some up in minutes
£13 for a brand new treated 18′ board I think, cut into 2 6′ and 2 3′ lengths

neighbour used some old reclaimed decking boards, mine looks much better and has lasted longer 😉

aldi next thursday

We’ve one made with paving slabs on their side. Others using ‘sleepers’.

All stuff got for free 🙂

Scaffold boards can be hard to get. We had some three years ago, but when we wanted some more, spent 6 months phoning round on and off, and none of our locals had any. Bought 2″ thick timber in the end ££.

Untreated wood is sensible for veggies. Thin 1″ stuff will probably last 4 years, thick stuff 6 or 8.

Last load of scaffolding boards I bought from a contact on my allotment, cost me £2 a shot, broken were 50p!

The broken were fine for raised beds

For kids, one tip, don’t build them too wide, its easier for kids to work on & yes they will last a few years, my oldest sets are 6 years old and still going strong.

Worth chatting to your local allotment rep.

I have just recently bought one from B and Q, £17

I have also got a hold of some boards and made another one. Have a look on ebay for some local scaffolding boards as they are ideal, quite cheap too.

A friend in work got a bunch of scaffold boards from a bloke on Seafield Ind Est to make his raised beds but he’s not in at the mo to check what it’s called. Pretty sure they were cheap as chips too.

there’s one at the bottom of my garden that had been done with asbestos sheet 😯
must get around to getting that removed…

There must be loads of nice purple fencing and decking from the last two gardening fads just crying out to be recycled into raised beds for the latest 🙂

Untreated wood is sensible for veggies

Meat eaters needn’t worry about treated wood as they will have already ingested so many chemicals that it won’t make any difference. 🙂

I also used second hand scaffold boards for ours.

Sorry to hijack the thread but i’ve found some cheap local scaffold boards, once i’ve cut to length and fixed to make the frame, should I fix it into the ground with anything? Like a 2×2 post driven in to the ground at each corner?

I pegged mine down in 2 diagonal corners with some old fence post I had, but tbh once it’s full inside of soil and muck, where’s it going?

I built some last year using the construction timber b&q, used osb for the base

See I would never have even considered putting a base on the thing.

I don’t think i’d put a base on it either actually. That way the veg can have deep roots if needed and can take some moisture from the ground if i forget to water them.

I dug out the existing lawn, used untreated planking from Homebase (no base in it mind you) then lugged the best part of half a tonne of topsoil in sacks from the front to the back of the house. The planks are still going fine after 2 years despite being untreated. Used galvanised screws though, I think rust would probably accelerate the rot.