How do I safely treat wood to be used in a veggie garden?
I am going to pick up some free wood pallets to be used for compost bins and raised garden beds. I cannot use treated wood because it is not safe for the veggies we’ll be eating out of the garden! However the wood will rot in a short time if I don’t treat it at all or use cedar (which the wood pallets are not).
Is there a safe way to treat the wood? Some kind of oil? Spray? Should I line the inside of the raised beds with landscaping plastic? Maybe it would make it last a few more years. I mean, I’m getting the wood free so if I have to spend a few bucks to make it last a few more years, then it’s worth it!
Thanks!!
Try this: http://mailman.cloudnet.com/pipermail/compost/2003-February/010315.html
It’s paraffin, turpentine and linseed oil.
Beware with using plastic, it holds moisture at the soil level….moisture condenses on the plastic and keeps the soil below slightly moist…hence rot.
Maybe you can find some cedar posts and then put the pallets on the posts, above the soil line. Or find a way to make the first row cinder blocks and then the pallets on top of that.
My compost piles are cedar posts (got them at a salvage yard) with 1×10" planks (also salvage yard) around the sides with hardware cloth to keep the compost from slipping out and varmints from moving in. The 1x10s are nearly 20 years old and doing well because we are in a dry climate and I don’t keep the compost piled up against them…..I leave air space….except for the bottom levels which have rotted a bit……hmmm, gotta fix those.
lol wax the wood ;-]
maybe you should place rocks between the wood and soil maybe a 6 inch layer
You might look for some non-toxic paint.
well make sure you use something as a barrier most pallets are treated with chemicals to make them last longer you should also never breath the smoke from burning pallets or the dust from cutting pallets