Built a small raised bed from scrap wood, didn't think it'd last the summer

I threw together a 4x2 raised bed in my Denver backyard last April using old fence boards I had sitting around. No liner, no treated lumber, just screwed them together and filled with dirt. Figured it'd rot out by August. Well, it's been 14 months now and it's still holding together fine, even through the snow and rain. I put tomatoes and peppers in it and got way more produce than I expected. Has anyone else had cheap scrap wood hold up way longer than you thought it would?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.stella17d ago

Honestly that's awesome. I love when stuff like that happens. I built a janky little planter out of pallet wood like three years ago and it's still going strong, even with all the rain we get here. The tomatoes I put in it were the best I've ever grown. I feel like sometimes the cheap stuff just has some kind of magic to it.

milaprice17d ago

My neighbor tossed a similar one together from old deck boards and I swear that thing is gonna outlive his actual house. lmao. The key is that scrap wood usually has some natural oils or whatever left in it from being outside already, plus the soil kinda seals the inside over time. You might wanna flip it upside down next spring to check the bottom edges, if they're soft just screw a piece of scrap over them and you'll get another season easy. I do that trick with all my janky beds now, the tomatoes don't care what the box looks like as long as the dirt's good.