Cedar for Raised Bed Garden?

kpope51486

Hello..long time lurker here.  I'm trying out my very first veggie garden this year and am looking to move things outdoors from my indoor seedlings.  I'd like to do a raised bed and am wondering if cedar is okay to use for the walls.  I just want to make sure that it's not going to hurt the soil or anything.  Also, what size posts would you reccommend.  I know someone who is giving away free cedar wood and I just have to let them know what size I want the wood cut.  Any suggestions on homemade raised beds, veggie gardens, etc. would be greatly appreciated. TIA! 

Ombligo1

I am doing a first-time raised bed this year.  Square foot gardening has been really interesting to me, I definitely am doing that (I like this site best - http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/).  I have seen, both on here and elsewhere, that cedar fence posts (with the decorative tops hacked off) work best, but I haven't built mine yet.  You want to use cedar, it is pressure-treated wood that may hurt the soil (it is debatable whether the chemicals leech in).  Most people do 6" or 12" raised beds.

Bigwuhead

We just built ours yesterday.  Cedar is perfect, but costly, so we ended up going with a pre-treated wood(i know very bad) instead as it was almost half the cost and we were do 3 - 6' x 3' beds.  Money is tight and if we had gone with the cedar, we probably wouldn't have been able to do a garden at all.  My DH did use Thompsons water seal on the boards as an extra precaution. 

Ours are about 10" high, and we filled with soil to about 8"... which was A LOT of soil. 

My hope was to use cedar fence planks, but neither Lowes are HD had them and our local lumber yard doesn't carry cedar for fences.

onceuponadisaster

Cedar is a great choice for wood- it's naturally weather resistant and doesn't need harsh chemical treatment to get it weather-ready. 

kpope51486

Thanks so much for the information! Another question..should I ask for the wood to be cut post style or plan style (thinking of a fence...the section posts or the planks that actually make up the fence)?

Bigwuhead

You would be asking for the cedar planks, not the posts, unless that's the style you are looking for. 

Here is where I got my origional design and has some great info and pictures..

 http://www.ana-white.com/2010/05/hack-natural-rustic-cedar-raised-beds.html

 Those plans are using the planks. 

cap321

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Landscape-Supplies-Raised-Beds-Accessories/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbx7c/R-202520884/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I bought this cedar one from home depot for just over 30 bucks.  Really easy to put together and it looks great!

TacoriLover

I just built one for the first time this weekend.  I also got a cedar garden bed kit from Lowe's for $69.  It was really easy to put together and it looks great.  I have quite a few pictures in my blog (link in siggy) if you're interested.  I planted a bunch of stuff, probably over did it a little since it's my first time.  So don't take any gardening tips from me!