I made these two planter boxes for a Christmas present for my Sister. She has two potted plants sitting in them either side of her front door.They are made from treated pine fence palings and i also gave them a coat of linseed oil.
I'd like to ask whether chemically treated palings are appropriate to use in planter boxes for edible plants?
@umbertom
There's a lot of debate about the risk of contamination. A lot of people use builders plastic to line the inside of the beds as a precaution.
You might find these articles interesting
https://www.growveg.com.au/guides/treating-wood-for-vegetable-gardens/
https://www.selfsufficientme.com/health/is-using-treated-wood-safe-for-growing-vegetables-fruit
https://laidbackgardener.blog/2017/06/25/is-treated-wood-safe-in-the-vegetable-garden/
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/vegie-garden-timber/9431242
Theres also debate on this forum
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2651347
Are you building your own?
I wasnt thinking of building one. Just interested in knowledge.
@umbertom - Hi there, I joined the forum to ask this very question. Two of my local bunnings didn't have any ACQ (safe) treated pine so my plans to build a planter for my passionfruit vine is on hold.
@greygardener - Some useful links there. I'll have a read. Cheers!
@greygardener @KaraZorEl would a non-treated timber do for planters? Exterior sealed with regular timber varnish, interior with: https://www.bunnings.com.au/bondall-1l-inground-timber-protector_p0960508 ?
My local Home Hardware sells hardwood fence palings (untreated) and they aren't that much more expensive than the treated pine - I used a fair amount of it in my rustic garden shed. The only issues are:
a) You have to carefully pick through the packs to pick reasonably defect free palings.
b) They are NOT kiln dried and so have a tendency to warp if you just leave them lying around - that should not be an issue in this case as they are all tied together.
Very nice looking planters Poppop BTW.
What a great idea! I’m trying to obtain some pallets so I can make some planter boxes. I need to keep myself busy whilst isolating at home with this Covid 19. I bet your sister was grateful for her Christmas present 😎
Hi @sinez70. Welcome to the Workshop community.
Just so you are aware, we provide free pallets at most of our Bunnings stores. If you are interested in obtaining some for projects, feel free to ask at your local store and I'm sure they would be more than happy to supply you with some.
If you need any assistance with getting the most out of the site, please let me know.
Mitchell
These are lovely and I am sure your sister will love them. I don't think I would use treated timber in raised garden beds for growing food crops. I know the jury is out on the matter of food contamination but I wouldn't risk any danger to my family's health.
Hi,
Very interesting. Well done! I am going to build a raised garden bed myself. Where did you get the posts? I couldn't find cheap posts at Bunnings.
I suppose this would be good to use for planter box
https://www.bunnings.com.au/100-x-15mm-x-1-5m-paling-hardwood_p0061814
Thanks
Welcome to the community and thanks for joining in the discussion @Pangol. Let me tag @Poppop for you so he is alerted to your question about the posts used.
Please don't hesitate to post anytime you have something to share with the community or need a hand with a project around the house and garden.
Jason
@Pangol
Hi. Everything I used to make these was available at my local Bunnings. If you ask a team member I'm sure they'll be able to help you
@pjturner2008
Just line them with black plastic if you have concerns.
Nice planters...question for you or anyone else...
I'll make a couple like these. I'm putting them on a disused slab. How do you stop the soil mix from leaking out (rain and watering), if they don't have a bottom to hold the soil in?
Hi @Lex1,
Typically, we would just line them with weed matting to retain the soil mix. A staple gun can be used to fix the matting around the top edge and just inside it.
If you'd like to minimise the dirty water that comes out the bottom of the planter, you might like to use drain matting instead, as it will prevent even finer soil particles from escaping.
Check out this helpful guide: How to fill a raised garden bed.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
As most of my veggie boxes are positioned in gardens, I generally leave the bottoms out to allow the worms to move up out of the soil and into the box. But in your situation I'd agree with @MitchellMc. Weed mat or similar would hold most of the material in. Some people also like to line the sides of the box with black plastic. You could continue the plastic across the bottom to help hold things in.Alternatively, with the Planter boxes I make to be placed on decks or other hard surfaces, I just continue the inside braces across the bottom and use more boards to put a bottom in it.
I hope this helps.
Thanks @Poppop and @MitchellMc.
Love this idea .. this would have taken some time - your accuracy and measurements are great. How do you begin ?
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @annabii. It's wonderful to have you join us and terrific to see this project has inspired you.
Let me mention @Poppop so they are alerted to your question. Here's another similar project with steps if you're after a full guide: How to build a raised garden bed using pallets.
We look forward to following along with your build and hearing about all your other projects around the house and garden. Please feel free to reach out anytime you need assistance or have something to share with the community.
Hi @annabii
Basically calling on skills I learned in Woodwork classes at High school. When you stop and look closely it's really very basic. I usually just have a plan in my head and start from there.
I started out with just a hand saw, a power drill and a hammer and built up my tool kit and skills as I went along.
I hope you decide to give it a try yourself and come back here and show us your results.
Good luck.
Dave.
