"Steve" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi there,
The top metre or so of my garden slopes up to a fence border. To make
it a bit neater I decided to hide the slope to the fence by putting in
a raised bed. I have started to do this by cutting ~0.5m lengths of
2'x2' and screwing 2 decking panels to these. The 2'x2' protudes from
the bottom of the decking strips and I hammered these into the soil to
anchor the strips into the ground - they seem quite firm. However since
I put them in on the weekend I've noticed that the lower decking strip
has become darker in colour than the one above it - it seems dirty and
I think maybe its becuase it is getting wet from the soil behind it. Am
I righth in thinking this is bad news and it's going to rapidly rot??
Should I put some poythene or something behind the decking to try and
stop the moisture gettting in and maybe paint the back of the decking
with wood treatment stuff to? ANyone have any thoughts - I'm starting
to think I've wasted my time a bit and I should have built a stone wall
but if I can rescue this it would be better!

Thanks for your help - I'm hoping to get it sorted soon and plant loads
of daffs and tulips in there!
Steve

The decking will last a few years. But there are concrete alternatives:~)
I used small concrete 'posts' to build my raised beds. Pictures at:
http://www.ljconline.nl/garden/gardenHistory.htm

I'm not sure what the posts are called in England, but I'm sure a good
garden supply place should have something similar.

This site also has some ideas:
http://muextension.missouri.edu/expl...ort/g06985.htm

Jenny