Extending Wood Life in Raised Beds

[womenswisdom]

We have just built new raised beds from untreated 2x6x8 lumber.  My husband wants to treat the wood with something because he thinks he'll be replacing the wood every year if he doesn't.  Is that accurate? If so, is there anything we can paint or treat them with that is safe to use in a veggie garden?  We're brand new to this, so any help is greatly appreciated!

[changingseasons]

I'm on my 3rd season (in rainy Seattle) with untreated cheap wood on my raised beds, and mine still look perfect (just faded/discolored.) I'm sure I will have to replace them every so often, but certainly not every year.

[limette]

Mine were fine after 4 seasons and then we moved so who knows how long they would have kept for. Treating them with something kinda defeats the purpose of not buying pressure treated wood. Anything you treat them with is going to potentially leak into the soil and contaminate your food.

[Owen'nZoe]

My beds have been in for 5 years now. They are a mix of untreated cedar and pine 2x6's. They look perfect from the outside, but when I dig out the soil inside, I can see that the boards are rotten about half way through. I think they'll be fine for another year or two, and then I'll have to start replacing boards.

[laohaire]

It probably depends on the area conditions (humidity, sun, rainfall, etc) but I think most people can get about 3 years out of untreated wood raised beds.

Mine are on their 3rd year and they look pretty old but they're still holding up.

I used brick for the raised bed I made last year. I didn't mortar it together or anything. It wasn't too expensive for one bed, but it is more expensive than wood, so I wouldn't have been able to do it for 3 or 5 beds.

[Geist]

the guy we got our pine from said it should last for about 7 years. It's 2x12 pine, so we'll see .

[earthmama369]

We put in salvaged untreated pine six years ago. The wood is probably more like 10 years old. It held up fine until last year, and then started to crumble a little bit. Pine's a soft wood, so I've just mixed the wood crumbles in with the soil. Instant compost/mulch action. It still looks good on the outside, and I figure we've got another 2-3 years before any of the boards actually need to be replaced. It's been a good investment.