Topic: wood around beds...

[legless]

the wooden planks used to mark out beds on lots of allotments, are they fenceboards normally or is there a cunning source of planks of wood that i don't know about yet?

cheers

Jo

[moses_cm9]

I caved in and (probably out of frustration) bought from the local builder's merchant - who cut everything and delivered.  It came down to transport in the finish - I sourced a supply - ex building site - but I didn't know anyone with a flatbed truck!

I have used pallets (given by our local garden centre) to make the compost bins however, but the timber from those would not be a) long enough or b) robust enough for wooden boxes.

Tip when making the wooden boxes - 4' wide is good and is what everyone recommends but make sure you put enough vertical posts in to keep the walls from collapsing in or buckling out.  I put in quite long ones (2' to start with - about 18" tall when knocked into the ground) to support netting.  Also screw, don't nail!

[legless]

thanks for that. i hadn't thought of the posts, great tip. fencing boards seem ok at 15p a foot and they can be delivered so i might stick with them for ease for now.

[LynneA]

Never underestimate the joy of skip raiding.  You never knw what you'll find!

We have rescued vast quantities of featheredge for use as beds r for paths - I even walked up to some builders taking down a fence and blaged the waste for the plot once!

As you get more involved in this lark, you'll be amazed the rubbish you can find uses for...just don't get to the point where you're taking used tea bags and banana skins home from work!

[Ceri]

worth ringing local scaffolding companies to see if they have any old boards that they can no longer use - often they cut boards for specific use, and then have offcuts that they can't use for other projects - you can buy 2nd hand boards - standard length is 13ft.  Also worth wandering into a building site and being very very nice to the site agent - works well towards the end of their project when they will need to start tidying up - good time to charm anything else you can use.  My new beds will be raised and edged with scaffold boards. I used to 'scrounge' for a charity years ago, so if you need ideas for getting other things, I'll be happy to give ideas!

[legless]

thanks for the tip! will try that if we decide to go with that approach, after seeing that brazilian lady's plot on gardeners world, i thought the less defined approach looked lovely!

[Ceri]

now I've realised how close you must live to me, if you want some old bits of scaffolding boards let me know - I'll nick some from the yard (its my company - I'm allowed!!) - let me know.