lumber choices for vegetable garden?

jillianmb

DH and I just moved into our first house a few weeks ago and I am eager to grow a vegetable garden this year!  I've been reading about square foot gardening and raised beds, but can't seem to figure out what lumber to use?  I was thinking untreated pine but then a landscaper friend of mine said it will rot if the pine is not treated.  Won't that leech chemicals into the soil (and into my food)?  What kind of lumber do you recommend?

csartini

I believe we used Cedar for ours

And yes, if you want a raised bed for a veggie garden the wood needs to be untreated 

pugznploons

we used untreated cedar.  

pdxmouse

We used untreated pine. It won't last as long as cedar, but we weren't sure how long we want the beds anyway. If we end up liking them enough we'll probably put brick or stone around them.

ColoradoFan

We used cedar fence posts.  They're only $1.69 each at Lowes, and are untreated so  you don't get any of the crazy chemicals.  They're far cheaper than buying dimensional cedar, although you do have to chop off the dog-eared end so that you can get a right angle.

Mrs.Lucy1230

I used untreated cedar from Lowe's. I figured out the dimensions of what I wanted the garden to be by using the sizes they had in stock and had the boards cut in store.

living_insanity

We have treated wood which has been lined with that black plastic stuff to keep it from touching the soil etc. 

-auntie-

One of my eagle scouts did a series of large raised beds for the local elementary school's organic garden. He used spruce which is a bit better than yellow pine but not as costly as cedar.