Creosote ties

Which suggests that the creosote leaches out. Probably not a good idea.

Would not bother me to use them. Creosote is coal or wood tar and I doubt the chemicals would enter the plants.

Well, they're better than using new creosoted ties, but it seems strange to do something healthful, like raising your own vegetables, then shooting yourself in the foot with creosote ties. Older ties are still shooting yourself in the foot, just using a .22 instead of a .

1. You could put a barrier inside the ties, kind of like a bathtub to prevent any of the creosote from ending up in your salad each night, but that would eliminate most of the cost savings and require extra labor.

Are railroad ties that have been treated in creosote okay to use for raised bed gardening? I've seen a lot of them. The ties are usually old, and a lot of the creosote has already leached out.

Steve

They would be okay for flower gardening. I would not use them for vegetables. Small boulders (if you have them around) make for a nice raised garden.

I've gardened for 55 years and this is the easiest, laziest and best method I've found. I have 20 of these now and will have more next season.

Hey! Really good link. Thanks for posting it.

You're welcome. The only thing that I do different is use rectangular serving trays instead of the tops. The only reason was because the hospital where my wife works bought cases of new ones and was throwing away all the old ones. They fit the 18 gallon tubs perfectly so I just drill the holes and drop them right in. That way, when the season is over, I just pull out the plants, pop the tops back on store them for next year. I think those trays are about 6 bucks new, but even at that I would use them instead of the tub tops. It's a little work building them until you get a routine going but once you have one, subsequent seasons are a breeze.