Raised garden bed made from treated pine

[WoodenGregsWood]

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @LN. It's sensational to have you join us and many thanks for your question about timber treatments.

I'd recommend you have a read through this article on How to choose the right timber for the job. You'll find a section on timber preservatives. I'd recommend against using timber treated with CCA which utilises arsenic. Here's a fact sheet on CCA treatment. Instead of using a CCA treated timber, I'd suggest either ACQ, Micropro or LOSP. 

Pallets that haven't carried goods from overseas most often only have a heat treatment applied to them. In some circumstances, you might find a chemical treatment applied. Look for pallets that have a stamp of HT on them which discloses that they've been heat treated. Regardless though, you should never use pallet timber on projects that will come in direct contact with food products. If you are to use them on a garden bed, I'd strongly advise you to use builder's plastic to line the inside so the soil does not contact the timber.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[WoodenGregsWood]

Hi @LN, 

There were no issues with the growing of the veggies that were grown in the planter.  If you were worried about plants not surviving,  my experience is that only happened with lack of water 😁.

[LN]

Thanks for your reply! Certainly not lack of water or love towards them at all as I also had an In Ground veggie garden that absolutely thrived at the same time. This is why I asked the expert why it happened  and was informed the treatment used on the pine May have been the issue. 

[LN]

Thank you so much for your insight Mitchell Much appreciated.