Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Section 3: Raised Bed Building Materials
Once we decide to build a raised bed, the next step is to decide what material to use.
Considerations for Raised Bed Building Materials
•
Functional and/or Visually Appealing
•
Cost of Materials
•
Life Span of Material
•
Hold soil only and/or provide place to sit or walk
•
Organic Requirements
•
Does the material leach chemicals or change the pH?
Functional and/or Visually Appealing -
I think my simple wooden and stacked stone
raised beds look nice, but the beds are primarily built to be inexpensive and functional. The
planting areas are confined by the frames or stones and the pathways are lined with land-
scape fabric and crushed stone to keep unwanted weeds and grass out and to provide wide
walkways that are clean, relatively level and dry.
We have all seen amazing stone landscaping and raised beds designed not only to look very
nice, but also to be functional and that will last for many years.
Cost of Materials -
Few of us grow tomatoes at home to save money. We can not compete
with the ag-industry for price per pound. We do it because the ag-industry can not provide
the same fresh home-grown taste and quality. I joke with friends and family about spending
hundreds of dollars per pound just to have home-grown tomatoes, but that is a huge exag-
geration. Truth is, it makes more sense to me to spend a little money, time and effort on
something I can eat instead of mowing grass.
If time, space and money were no object, most of us would have skilled stone masons build
beautiful stone "seat-walled" raised beds. But most of us are not likely to spend thousands
of dollars for a stone raised bed when an untreated lumber raised bed can be built for less
than $50.
If we think of the cost of building raised beds in terms of the square foot cost of building a
wall, the square foot cost of common building materials shows that untreated dimensional
lumber is least expensive (
Table 1
). The cost to build a wall with concrete block is almost
twice as much. Railroad ties cost more than concrete block, especially if the seven inch side
is used as the wall instead of the nine inch side. The cost of pressure treated lumber is twice
as much as untreated lumber. Garden block is a nice looking option, but cost about three
times as much as untreated lumber.
