Hello to all! Just registered today- looks to be a very useful site.
Does anyone know if any of the main DIY stores or Garden Centres are doing any deals on wooden boards/posts? I'm creating some raised beds and I've exhausted the free stuff I've found on site.
Any ideas welcome! :)
trawl round your local scaffolding companies, make sure to tell them what they're for, Good Luck!! ;)
Forgot!! Welcome to the nut-house! ;D
hiya, JaseMac, welcome to the site ;D
we used old pallets we got for free, some firms BURN them, might be worth a trawl around :)
When I left Liverpool for Nice 2 weeks ago, B&Q were selling their decking, 2.4m the size that I use to £3.00 each, a lot less than the £5.75 they were the previous week.
That makes a bed like mine £9 plus bolts and pes, about £10 for tanalised timber that will last 10 years.
If like me you have an old gits card, or you have ]friend with one, it is 10% off on Wednesdays.
See my instructions on -
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Deep_bed_building.html
did some one use the B word(buy)keep an eye on local skips its called skip dipping and highly addictive.
yeah local skips are great .We have a church being pulled to bits two doors away shame for the church but great for our raised beds and composter. my best advice for gardening make friends with a builder. Free wood and roofing felt really good for keeping weeds at bay on unused land, old bricks also good for raised beds. during the credit crunch they are happy to get rid of anything they don`t need give it a try - joie x
The problem with different sized pieces of imber is the inability to have my modular system where different covers, polythene, fleece, mesh and fine mesh of different heights can be moved about the plot.
(http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/shedtop070515.jpg)
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments2_my_allotment_in_liverpool.html
my raised beds are edged with sapele or utile (from a joinery yard skip) no preservatives needed and free!!
A A L, check out the poisons that are wood preservatives( wouldn't put preserved wood near my food crops, personally) ;)
At the other side of the Mersey is Port Sunlight, home of Unilever. A few miles upriver is the largest oil refinery complex in Britain, I think that the poison that may leach from my wood, pales into insignificance compared with what I breathe in when the wind is fronm the South-East, which thankfully is not very often.
My shed has preservative, my car burns petrol, I use gas and eletricity in the house, my clothes have dyes in them, the meat I eat has been fed antibiotics.
I have 3 children and despite all these poisons and non-organic food over the years, between them they had one course of antibiotics while at home with me, and no more than a week off school for illness each.
If you can find a source of free hardwood to construct the number of beds etc that I have then I am sure the rest of A4A would be delighted to know!
I would be very careful about taking stuff from Skips without permission - technically it is theft. They are merely storing stuff and have not yet disposed of it. I know that most skips will be going to landfill and that making use of the stuff is usually a good thing, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the contractors will sort throught the stuff and re-use it themselves.
A friend of mine saw an old and unusual shop sign in a skip on her road. She asked the builders if she could have it as a decoration and they said yes. Unfortunately the boss of the firm thought differently and has sent her letters talking about legal action and theft....
hi
the cheapest deck boards i can find, savoytimber.com if you are in their delivery area
or more expensive but deliver everywhere on the mainland timberclick.com
lbb
or think outside the box and used old oak wardrobes as I do. :)
Old fashiond oak wardrobes are usually free so you can bash the back out and lay them on the floor, remove the doors for later use.
I do this with old cabinets, chest of drawers etc.
Works great ;D
I have actually found the raised bed with wooden sides i put on my plot quite annoying compared to the beds I have 'raised' with soil only (actually i lowered the path area by taking top soil & adding to the bed). The beds without board edging have changed shape, length etc as the crops/harvesting has occurred & i am free to completely rearrange almost all of my allotment for autumn/winter growing. I really wish I hadnt made a solid raised bed at all because it is now such a permanent feature.
Tyke - Skips!
Once stuff has been put in the skip it becomes the property of the skip owner and is no longer owned by the person throwing out the stuff - But I do agree it is always wise to ask before helping yourself - unless it is very dark and very quiet !!
I am surprised that so far I have not yet seen some recycled plastic wood similar in size to the scaffolding boards that we all cherish. I have seen the diddy little ones that sell for a fortune in the gardening magazines but I haven't seen the larger planks anywhere - maybe we could build a factory to make these things as they would never rot and are re-using plastics and we will all make millions and millions of pounds!! Well .....?
Old Bird
;D
there's a factory in wigan makes large plastic planks, cost a bomb ;D
Quote from: manicscousers on July 16, 2008, 17:42:33
there's a factory in wigan makes large plastic planks, cost a bomb ;D
they should sell them to america and israel, they've got too many bombs! ;D ;D
Hi Manics
I am sure that if there is ever anyone else making them then the price should fall on the supply and demand theory!
Having said that what really irritates me (just another thing!) is the cost of "recycled" stuff and the fairtrade/organic type bandwagon things that they sell. They cost a flipping fortune.
I was in a charity shop this morning (skiving work briefly) they were selling M & S T shirts for 3.95 - more than they cost originally! Who but an idiot would buy them? I pointed this out to the Manageress and she snootily said that they were currently re-pricing (upwards) their stock and this must have been a mistake! I don't think so! I find that Charity Shops do suddenly overprice things then when they don't sell chuck them all in a £1 bin!
Rant over!! for now....
Old Bird!!
;D