If the area is relatively flat, and your soil is clay based and not too
sandy, you may not need to use anything at all. Just mound up the soil and
tamp it into place along the edges. Mulch will help hold things in
place--bark mulch for an ornamental bed, or straw for the veggie garden.
You'd be surprised how well it will stay in place, especially if you are
only dealing with six inches of earth. You can also plant ground hugging
plants along the edges to give it more of a formal, finished look. Various
thymes, alpine strawberries, even dwarf marigolds--there's lots of
possibilities.

If you find interlocking blocks you like, but don't have the time/money to
install them all at once, you can make the bed and install the edging at
your convenience this way.

Sue
--
Zone 6, Southcentral PA


"Jon Noring" wrote in message
...
Hello,

This spring we intend to build some raised beds by our house. They
will be fairly low to the ground, about 6-8" above the ground level.
For those who'd suggest higher beds, let me say that we have our
reasons and I won't go into them here.

We originally intended to use pressure treated lumber, but have
decided we'd like something more permanent (plus we have concerns
about the toxins in the lumber.)

Thus, no wood. Period. (Don't bother even suggesting it, not even
redwood.)

Obviously, we can go the complex route and use ordinary concrete block
or brick with mortar and pour a "foundation", but this seems like
overkill. I'm not sure if using reinforced concrete "beams" make any
sense because of their weight -- we'd also need to tailor them to
specific dimensions and handling corners.

Are there any recent inventions in this area that may be what we
are looking for, such as interlocking blocks (akin to legos) by
which we can build the raised beds retainer?

Any insights here would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon Noring