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Posted: Oct/07/2008 9:44 AM PST
Hi everyone, I have a plot of land in my backyard that I'm considering making a raised bed, tier-based garden. I have some friends who did stacked up railroad ties on top of each other in an "L" shape, then another level on top making a square. I like the idea of different levels but I'm not sure if I want to use railroad ties. I have heard that they are toxic with a variety of chemicals (like arsenic) injected into them. Some say that plants have a difficult time even living within the area as they leach toxins, but my friends plants seem to be doing fine, plus, no plants would be living in here that I would harvest. These would be succulents and other unique and possible oddity type plants. My question is two fold. 1) What is the consensus on using railroad ties as borders? 2) Does anyone have any other ideas for an inexpensive solution that looks good and will last for a few years that could fit the bill toward making this 2-3 level garden? If so, please post pictures if you can. I really don't want to totally rip off my friends idea of the railroad tie tiered level garden. Attachments:  |
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Posted: Oct/26/2008 5:31 AM PST
I am sorry that I haven't seen this question although I don't really have an answer for you. Maybe someone will help you with this. |
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Posted: Mar/12/2009 8:33 PM PST
Railroad ties are horrible things generally made from treated wood and/or covered in creosote, neither of which is conducive to healthy plants. My husband surprised me a long time ago with a raised bed made from railroad ties. I was tempted to divorce him right there and then. I left it in place for a few years in order not to seem like an ingrate, but nothing grew close to the ties. The plants in the centre of the bed did alright, but I tore the damned thing apart at the earliest excuse. |
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Posted: Jun/09/2009 12:37 PM PST
Thanks for the posts, guys. Yes, railroad ties are treated in creosote which isn't a friendly product, however, I'm under the impression that if done right, non-edible plants can not only grow, but thrive in structures made from railroad ties. My neighbor has a setup similar to what I envision and after 3 years, it is now a very nice addition to his garden area with native plants filling out and overtaking the structure. He secured each tie to each other from the inside with metal "L" brackets then lined the inside of the ties with heavy plastic to keep the creosote out of the soil as best as he could. It's obviously not a perfect system, but it's inexpensive, adds visual appeal (when everything is growing and filled out) and when done right, can be a great addition to the yard/garden. Keep the comments coming! |
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Posted: Jun/09/2009 8:10 PM PST
That is a very interesting idea. Keep us updated. |
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Posted: Jun/10/2009 6:52 AM PST
I have seen many gardens with Railroad Ties as the border. These are always, old, used ties, so the creosote is not near as bad as a new one. Don't know of anyone getting sick because the garden was bordered with RR ties. I like the idea of covering with plastic or some sort of barrier. I wouldn't want the new in my yard, either. I've seen several tiered gardens/beds made with landscape timbers, which is what I have for my beds. Fairly cheap, and last a long time. |
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Posted: Aug/12/2009 10:30 AM PST
Hi everyone. To keep this thread alive and useful for someone in the future, I thought I'd post a few updated pictures. My girlfriend and I tackled the project this last weekend and in 2 days, we are coming close to finishing it. We discovered that although it is a good idea to have rough measurements and placement down on paper, keep it loose because there are many factors that will change your project. For instance, railroad ties come in slightly different lengths and widths. I had some ties that were 8' (most of them) all the way up to 10'. However, a chainsaw makes quick work of cutting the ties. Also, another factor is that some ties were 7.5" wide and others, up to 9". This helps with the placement of the base ties, as we put the thicker ties down for their. Also, my yard has a slight slope, which meant I had to dig out trenching to keep some ties level while others needed dirt to raise them. Oh, and don't even get me started on the number of roots I found thanks to the neighbors poplar tree. Good thing I purchased an iron breaker bar before the project started! The project still has plenty of life left before it's 'done', but the lions share of the brunt, heavy work is done. I'll post more as it finishes up and the dirt/plants start filling in. Hopefully, this post will help others in the future as I know I found essentially no help anywhere else other than some friends who also constructed this cheap, easy and effective yard feature. Also, here are two links that helped give a little inspiration on different RR tie idea: Creative Landscaping with Railroad Ties http://www.progardenbiz.com/wp/creative-landscapin g-with-railroad-ties/ Angular Railroad Tie Examples http://keystonetarps.com/rail-road-ties/ Attachments:      |
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Posted: Aug/12/2009 6:55 PM PST
Good Grief-that looks like a lot of work!! The end result will be great, I think. Those RR ties should last forever! 
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Posted: Aug/25/2009 11:58 AM PST
More progress... After fine tuning positioning of the ties, 90 degree iron brackets were added along with metal straps to the inside to secure the ties. For further securing, 18" rebar stakes were pounded into the ties from above (see picture 3) after a hole is drilled/bored through. This certainly takes time and muscle, which I'm finding out, however, the ties are safe, secure and most importantly, don't move around if you decide to step on top of them. Also, 5mm plastic was added around the inside of the ties, then 1 yard of 4-part dirt (compost, topsoil, manure and sand) was added. 1 more yard should finish it off before planting begins. Stay tuned! Attachments:     |
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Posted: Sep/22/2009 9:45 AM PST
Finally, this project is over. My last post showed the ties with metal brackets and straps internally securing it and clear plastic lining the ties. Since then, I've pounded in all of the rebar into each tie from the top. For future researchers trolling through this post, I found that 3 stakes in a full size tie and 2 stakes in a half size tie was a fairly effective amount of staking. This really made a big difference. The ties are secure, sturdy and extremely safe from shifting or toppling over. I've also added a total of 2.5 yards of 4-part dirt (compost, topsoil, manure and sand) which topped it off nicely. The rest was easy since it was just planting. Mainly, succulents, grasses and palms. The types of plants that need less attention and water was the main goal. Nothing that would be harvested for anything other than visual appearance was planted. But, I did try and focus on plants that would trail over the edge, especially on the front side since a tie shifted pretty heavily as I was pounding in a rebar stake. Ah well. It’s ‘rustic’, right? One thing I did notice, which essentially gave me my verdict on whether I'd ever do a project with railroad ties again, was that after a few weeks of having only 1 yard of dirt in the bed, I saw that the plastic that was exposed to sun had started to become brown and dingy. The plastic on the other side of the ties (that wasn’t getting sun exposure) was still clear and clean. Water, rain and sun proved to me that the creosote was actually staining the ties. Luckily, the dirt had the plastic barrier, but still, what does that say about the ties leeching into the watershed and ground below? This alarms me, although not to the point that I’ll scrap the project. I just now know that if I ever do something like this again, I feel like it would be best to use landscaping logs, which aren’t as big/wide/heavy nor do they last the eons that the ties seem to. Either way, this has been a fantastic project for the summer and really very simple (as long as you are ok with a little hard labor) and cost effective for those looking to simply add some visual appeal to a barren space that nothing else is planned for. I’d recommend using landscaping logs, if you had nothing edible growing nearby, nor wanted edible plants in the raised bed, railroad ties aren’t a bad way to go either, just be wary that the creosote is a concern. Hopefully this thread has been useful to future bed builders! Attachments:      |
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