Railroad ties OK for a raised bed garden?

[ScottSD]

This has probably been talked about on here numerous times but I didn't find any thing in a quick search.

What are your thoughts?

Been doing some research and I have heard that it is OK and also that it is NOT OK.


http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g6985
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7557575_railroad-ties-safe-gardens.html

Reason I am asking is that I have an opportunity to pick some up for nothing...and these were used by the previous owner of a friend of mine's property for organic gardening, by the way.


Thanks in advance.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I would use them, as long as I had a solid board frame on the inside to prevent the ties from direct contact with the garden soil.

 

[Marianne]

I have some really old ones around my garden. I just don't plant anything too close to them.
If they were newer, I might be kind of nervous.

What a score for you!

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[patandchickens]

You know you don't generally need the kind of magazine-photo-style raised beds that have ANY kind of fancy retaining walls... if you need raised beds at all (and far, far more people use them than OUGHT to, in my opinion, and end up wasting a lot of water that way) it is quite frequently satisfactory to just pile the dirt up and 'dress' the sides with your hoe or whatever, every so often as they start to subside.

Raised beds are poorly understood and highly overrated IMO, except for those who physically cannot get down to deal with ground-level beds or want to start things very early in a cold climate.

Anyhow getting back to your question -- if they are REAL railroad ties ie. the giant creosoted things from an actual railroad, it's a personal judgement call. Me, I'd avoid it if I could (creosote is not good stuff to be ingesting even small residues of) but I would also not sweat much about it if I *had* to use it. If they are pressure-treated things merely *labelled* railroad ties or landscape ties, I would worry even less but still suggest it's up to your personal tastes. Everyone has different ideas about risks.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

You know you don't generally need the kind of magazine-photo-style raised beds that have ANY kind of fancy retaining walls... if you need raised beds at all (and far, far more people use them than OUGHT to, in my opinion, and end up wasting a lot of water that way) it is quite frequently satisfactory to just pile the dirt up and 'dress' the sides with your hoe or whatever, every so often as they start to subside.

Raised beds are poorly understood and highly overrated IMO, except for those who physically cannot get down to deal with ground-level beds or want to start things very early in a cold climate.

Anyhow getting back to your question -- if they are REAL railroad ties ie. the giant creosoted things from an actual railroad, it's a personal judgement call. Me, I'd avoid it if I could (creosote is not good stuff to be ingesting even small residues of) but I would also not sweat much about it if I *had* to use it. If they are pressure-treated things merely *labelled* railroad ties or landscape ties, I would worry even less but still suggest it's up to your personal tastes. Everyone has different ideas about risks.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

except for those that live on gravel pads

 

[patandchickens]

I'd try real hard to excavate down into the gravel, but if not, then yes I can certainly see that being another one of the exceptions

Pat

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I'd try real hard to excavate down into the gravel, but if not, then yes I can certainly see that being another one of the exceptions

Pat

Here you would hit the water table before you hit dirt of any kind. The people that built the place had to haul in 4 feet of fill and gravel to bring the acre up off the old stream bed to prevent flooding.
We discovered the surface water table is at about 1 foot if you dig off the edge of the pad.

 

[Emerald]

I personally would never use them for any gardens for food. The chemicals used to make them more impervious to rotting are nasty critters.

We have used them to make stairs and a golf tee off at my mothers home in her back yard... she now can tee off at the top of the hill and has stairs to get back up after collecting her golf balls. Her own private driving range.

 

[baymule]

This has probably been talked about on here numerous times but I didn't find any thing in a quick search.

What are your thoughts?

Been doing some research and I have heard that it is OK and also that it is NOT OK.


http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g6985
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7557575_railroad-ties-safe-gardens.html

Reason I am asking is that I have an opportunity to pick some up for nothing...and these were used by the previous owner of a friend of mine's property for organic gardening, by the way.

Thanks in advance.

NO NO NO ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!! I work for a trash company and to even put them in a landfill, they have to be handled like toxic waste! They are bad news. Even if they are old, the chemicals are still there. Try burning one and watch the goo bubble and cook out of them. I would not put a cross tie get anywhere near food I grow.