Extend the life of your wooden beds

 Important ways to extend the life of your wooden beds

Of all the ways to garden, raised beds are one of the most popular approaches to growing food and flowers. Among its many specialties, bed gardening will keep products neat and tidy while increasing productivity and yielding less work. There are materials you can use to create raised beds, but wood is still the classic choice.

1. Select wood that is resistant to natural rot

Wood decay is triggered by a combination of moisture, fungus, oxygen, and heat. The constantly wet tree is rapidly colonized by fungi in the air and soil around us. When microbes feed on the cellulose and lignin in the wood, the wood weakens and becomes soft, which can lead to fractures, cracks, fractures, and eventually structural failure.

2. Use a wood preservative

Whichever wood you choose, the use of beds made of wood will extend many times over. It is recommended to avoid using pressure-treated wood for raised beds, especially if you use them to grow food. Although chromate copper arsenate (CCA) was phased out in 2004 due to concerns about arsenic leakage in the environment, low-toxic alternatives such as the alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ) still leak some copper into the soil. If you want to make a careful mistake, you can use these completely natural and safe vegetable oils to protect your wooden beds from rot.

3. Do not use a liner

You might think lining the beds with plastic sheeting will help protect the wood from moisture. This is the complete opposite. Laying with an impermeable material such as plastic on the bottom and sides of the timber frame accelerates the entire decay process and prevents proper drainage of the soil. This is because water can easily get trapped between the plastic and the trees, especially in hot and humid climates in summer. With no drainage anywhere, condensation and moisture will sit next to the tree welcoming the next generation of fungal invaders.

If that’s not enough, plastic liners can do a lot of harm even inside a raised bed. They can prevent water from draining freely and block airflow into the bed soil, starving the plant roots of oxygen. Although lining your beds with breathable and water-repellent materials such as newspaper, cardboard and canvas are better than plastic for your plants, these materials will not help protect the wood from waterproofing and moisture. To get the most out of your raised beds, it is best to focus your energy on getting quality wood and take your time to cover it properly.

4. Install the corner brackets

The frost and thaw cycles of spring and fall will definitely cause their number in the corners of your raised bed frame. The wood expands in hot and humid air and shrinks in cold and freezing temperatures. When only screws or nails are used to attach the corners, they do not hold well against the swelling and shrinkage of the seasons. As the exposed wood begins to rot, the hardware will begin to loosen and the corners will split. The corners can be easily reinforced with cheap metal brackets from the hardware store. There are gates to choose from, and some are specifically designed for creating raised beds. Any bracket that requires multiple screws to fit will help make the raised bed much stronger. Add extra area to attach the screws by placing a 2 ”x 2” piece of wood on the inside of each corner. By raising the corners, your wooden frame will be more readable and will maintain its shape during those extreme fluctuations in temperature.