Old timer told me to never use pressure treated wood for raised garden beds

My neighbor Dave (retired carpenter, 70s) saw me hauling a bunch of pressure treated 2x6s from Home Depot for my raised beds last spring. He just shook his head and said "you're gonna be eating that poison in your tomatoes in a year." I thought he was being dramatic but looked it up and yeah, the arsenic and copper they use to treat that stuff does leach into soil over time. Ended up returning all of it and spending more on cedar instead, but Dave saved me from what probably would've been a bad deal. Anyone else get caught by this or have input on what wood works best for beds that will last?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_jackson94d ago

Joined a community garden last year where the old timers had a clever workaround. They lined the inside walls of their pressure treated beds with thick plastic sheeting. Not the flimsy kind, the 10 mil pond liner stuff. Put a barrier between the wood and soil so the chemicals never touch the dirt directly. Did the same with my own beds using untreated fence boards and it's held up great for two seasons now. Local lumber yard guy said as long as you let the wood fully dry before installing and drill a few small drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic, you'll get 8-10 years easy without replacing anything.

miller.susan4d ago

Huh, that plastic lining trick is smart. I always thought the whole "chemicals leaching" thing was overblown but seeing how the old timers do it makes me want to try that with my beds too.