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Janet · 09-03-2014, 01:09 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article , lid
says...

On 08/03/2014 12:59, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

Can't at the moment decide about the beds - we have seen some made from
seriously thick sleepers which look nice, but if this is going to be a
once built last forever arrangement then we might build in brick and block.

If you want something made of wood that will not rot and will last
years, then go for old railway sleepers made of jarrah wood. The only
problem is if you want them cut to size - even saw blades tipped with
tungsten carbide can take quite a time to cut through seasoned jarrah.

We used the chainsaw.

There are a number of suppliers in the UK.

However, it was common for older ones to get saturated with with tar
or engine oil, during their working life on the railway. That's one of
the reasons they last forever :-)

I used such sleepers to make raised veg beds in my (cold, wet)
Scottish mainland high moors garden.. not noted for summer heat. Even
after 18 years, on a sunny summer day (remember those? ) the ancient
sleepers would bubble tarry oil.. so sitting on them to weed was
inadvisable and even treading on them risks trailing tar smears indoors.

Janet.