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  • From: Vint Lawrence <vlawrence AT nets.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Beds for growing
  • Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2003 10:34:53 -0600

Kathie,
If, by "landscape timbers" you mean "treated" (green color), be very careful. CCA treated wood contains arsenic salts and this can leach into your garden beds. Organic rules prohibit CCA treated timbers or wood within 25 feet of plants. If you mean railroad ties, these are creosoted and have equally nasty, though different, toxins.
There are several alternatives that can work to limit rotting.
Use untreated cedar for framing the bed. Or at the very least, paint the timbers with a durable non-toxic paint before installing them.
Or make the beds from straw bales. This has several advantages - a soft place to sit while you work/weed, a great interface zone between the soil and the bale that attracts worms, and can also grow edible mushrooms. When the bales need to be replaced( 1-2 years), you can use them as mulch and the bed soil can be moved at that time if you want to.

We use waste cardboard boxes and old feed bags as a weed preventing layer and then cover them with a straw or woodchip mulch. Over time, the soil organisms feed on the cardboard and break in down into soil. It saves the landfill and returns the cellulose back into a natural system.
Hope this helps.
Vint Lawrence
Apache Creek Ranch Permaculture (Land restoration)
Santa Fe, NM
and
Land's End Farm (Certified Organic)
Chestertown, Maryland

kathie loftis wrote:
My husband is about to build some 4' x 8' beds for me out of landscape timbers for starting perennials & hostas. Can anybody give me any advice on how to keep the weeds down between the beds? Any other advice on this subject? I would appreciate any pointers before we start. Thanks.
Katherine

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