In article ,
Mike Tickle wrote:
Having read articles on http://www.thevegetablepatch.com/ that suggest
avoiding pressure treated timber and the explanation as to why on
http://www.organicgardening.com/watc...eatedwood.html I am starting to
think. I have grown my lettuce and carrots in a home made wooden box
constructed from pressure treated timber which I have painted green (garden
fence paint). Do we use the same chemicals here in the UK that are used in
the US?

Usually, but we tend to by less hysterial and histrionic. The same
cannot be said for our ruling bureaucracy, of course.

Most of those pages are unmitigated crap, and I have not seen one
that is in any way reliable. Despite claims, the amount of copper
involved is no danger to mammals and might even be beneficial. It
is less clear about the arsenic, but even that is an essential
mineral - and, if it was as toxic as many of those pages make out,
most of the Welsh would be dead.

I haven't checked up on that page, so that is a generic statement.

Aside from that after two years the boxes need a little more paint
applying - insects have started to eat the inside of them (just a little).
Is there anything (safe) that I can paint them with that might last more
than 2 years, or is 2 years when in contacts with moist compost for 9 months
of the year good (I empty them out over winter).

Not much. I don't know what the new "safe" treatments contain but,
if they work, I doubt they are safe. What I have heard is that they
give limited protection in return for being not obviously dangerous
to humans.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.