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What Kind of Wood Should You Use for a Raised Garden?

Raised garden beds provide easy access for those with impaired mobility as well as people who are simply tired of gardening on their hands and knees. These elevated beds break up the monotony of a flat lawn and are also employed in areas with limited space. To create a raised bed, a gardener constructs a frame, fills the frame with soil and begins to plant their crop. Frames can be made from salvaged materials such as landscape rock and concrete or old vinyl fencing. They are also made of timber and wood for a more refined appearance.

  1. Treated Woods

    • Many gardeners construct bed frames with treated woods. Treated woods last longer in soil and moisture than do untreated woods. CCA (chromated copper arsenate) is a pesticide used to treat outdoor wood. This treatment lengthens the lifespan of outdoor wooden structures. This wood is an acceptable construction material for ornamental gardens, but if you are growing edible plants you may wish to consider other treated wood alternatives.

      Plants absorb many chemical elements and minerals through soil. Most of these chemicals, such as boron, potassium and phosphorus, are beneficial to the plant. Others may not harm the plant but are stored in plant tissue, which is later consumed by humans. CCA-treated wood leaches chromium, copper and arsenic into the soil. Penn State University’s Agricultural Science division studies suggest chromium and copper are not present in dangerous levels within plant tissue exposed to CCA wood and are safe for human consumption. The dangerous element is arsenic. Arsenic occurs in nature but the levels present in plants growing near CCA wood may be harmful when consumed by humans.

      The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission reached an agreement with producers of CCA-treated wood and the wood was no longer produced as of December 2003. If you are building a frame from old and salvaged wood with unknown treatment origins, B. Rosie Lerner of Purdue University recommends treating the wood every two years with an oil-based stain. This may not be practical for raised beds since the soil and plants will have to be removed every two years in order to stain the wood. Richard Stehouwer of Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences recommends that vegetables grown near CCA-treated wood be washed thoroughly and root vegetables should be peeled.

      ACQ (alkaline copper quaternary ammonium) treated wood is safer for your garden then CCA treated wood and will last for decades in an outdoor environment. Untreated woods such as redwood, cedar, Osage and white oak withstand moisture and microbes better than other untreated woods. If you are constructing a raised bed with these untreated woods you will have to replace the wood every 10 years or so, depending on your region’s climate.

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Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
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