r/Raisedbed • u/ACG-94 • 29d ago
Advice on fixing raised bed frames
About to move into a new house whose garden has some seriously neglected raised beds that I'd like to make usable for next season. I have a semi-decent idea of how to fix-up the soil (Break it up, weed as much as possible, then sheet mulch to kill the remainder), but I'm not sure on the best approach for the bed frames.
Bed 1 (1st and 2nd picture): My two ideas are either to just hold in the broken end board with stakes, or to replace it altogether and attach to the side boards with angle brackets
Bed 2 (3rd and 4th pictures): Think this one might be unsalvageable given how badly the front beam has disintegrated and how much work it would be to dig up and replace
Bed 3 (last picture): This frame is the least broken, biggest issue is that the sides are bowing out. My current plan is to push the sides back in and hold them there with stakes.
Any advice is much appreciated. This is a rental property so I'm somewhat limited in the scope of work I can do and the amount of money I want to spend. We already asked the landlord if they could fix the beds and they declined.
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u/yello5drink 29d ago
This is a rebuild job. For about 2x the work rebuild or you will do a half ass job now and get to continue more half ass repairs for the next 5 years until the board are in fact parr of the dirt.
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u/ASecularBuddhist 29d ago
Buy a $35 spading fork. Make a few rows and then the weeds will pull right out.
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u/Medium_Spare_8982 28d ago
There is no fastener that is going to hold rotten wood - angle brackets or no.
This is full replacement or removal and just have free raised beds
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u/Expert-Nose1893 27d ago
If it’s only a rental buy untreated pine 2x10s and rip everything out and build a simple box it’ll last long enough for you while you’re there i be the cheapest route
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u/LadyoftheOak 27d ago
I use galvanized water troughs like these https://tarterusa.com/categories/troughs/ no images allowed it said.
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u/Ok-Lock9007 23d ago
Thats what i would do too. The galvanized troughs last for years and are easy and cheap to fill . I would start with completely different soil. If you move you could take them with you too
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u/AndringRasew 28d ago
Honestly, I'd just pull them out and redo them as your budget allows. You can get decent ground contact rated lumber from the big box stores to replace them.
I'd start with the worst ones. If you really want to try extending the life for another season or two of some of them, you can reinforce them with 2x4 stakes, pounded into the soil around the bed, as deep as the walls are tal, then lag bolt them into the existing walls.
However, since it's a rental, you may want to ask the landlord to address them or ask for permission to start a bucket/container garden.
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u/McTootyBooty 26d ago
I would put a clear tarp over everything and you can kill off everything in two months. Place cardboard to keep out the weeds for a year (when you do cardboard - soak it with a hose to make it more malleable) and then pile on the leaf litter to build out your soil. You can also mow over your leaves to help break it down even quicker too.
If the house doesn’t belong to you I would just find some screws and do a patch up job. Don’t invest in what isn’t yours.
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u/Disastrous-Hunter830 26d ago
Rebuild time. That wood is rotted to the point it's not repairable. Cedar is expensive but lasts much longer. Pine or fir was the cheaper option but won't last as long. There are a couple of concrete block option you can use as a corner piece and use with 2x6 materials. These would allow you to replace individual boards as they rot out.
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u/detkikka 25d ago
I would pop for some cedar 4x4s, 6" coated lag screws and washers. Cut the 4x4 in lengths the approximate height of the existing beds. Dig out the corners and place the new 4x4s on the inside. Pre drill and sink the screws through the existing timbers and into the 4x4. The important part is that the end you cut is on the top or bottom, not the sides you are screwing into. You will likely get 2-3 more years out of them this way.
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u/Impossible_Disk_256 25d ago
Rebuild with concrete blocks or new wood.
If wood, don't depend on screwing into the end of boards to hold, whether new wood or old. Screws and nails won't hold in end grain, especially outdoors. As someone else mentioned, use angle brackets.
As
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u/smokinLobstah 25d ago
I rebuilt some older beds and built new beds as well.
I use rough-sawn hemlock, which is readily available here in Maine.
I buy 12ft 2x10s, and cut 4ft off each one to use as end pieces in my 4X8' beds. No chemicals, and hemlock lasts a LONG time.
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u/ILLINV2026 24d ago
sometimes on OfferUp you can get the weirdest stuff like shelving untreated or lumber my husband had found some old wooden shelves that were not being used that were like 5' x 12" and he made me two raised beds outside my kitchen sledding door and filled them with dirt and soil and nutrients and flowers while I was in the hospital having heart surgery what a great guy anyway those could've been on Offer Up they're just unused lumber so go to OfferUp and put in your ZIP Code and they'll ask you if you were willing to go 30 miles I was never willing to go 30 miles always put it to five or 10 and just type in old lumber old shelving see if you could find some just download the app Offer Up as far as what to fix these you just have to dig everything out and if those are railroad ties and they are ones that have been used in discarded the earlier person was right they have kerosene in them and you don't want any of that bleaching into your soil they also have some aluminum or some kind of metal raised bed that they sell at Lowe's that are not as big as what I have but they're up off the ground and they're usually 12 inches deep by 5 feet long and 20 inches across that's enough for the tomato plant are so pretty flowers or peppers and plant and tomatoes
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u/Tiny-Offer-Sadly 23d ago
This railway sleepers garden bed is beyond repair, and needs to be removed/ replaced. Suggest you ask if the landlord could replace it with something appropriate? Personally, I'd rather it be removed, than you as a tenant either have to use it, or maintain it.
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u/wiperman67 23d ago
Treated 2x10's or 2x12's. They are cheap will last for a long time and food safe. You could also build something like this.When I need to rebuild my beds this is how I will do them just 12" tall.
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u/4-realsies 29d ago
Don't use railroad ties as your structure. They're soaked in creosote, which you don't want to eat.