Is it problematic to build a raised bed vegetable garden out of cross ties? They make the job pretty easy, but the presence of creosote concerns me somewhat. Any advice would be appreciated.

If they are older ties that have oozed out all the creosote you'll be fine. I have a railroad tie retaining wall about 60' long, it's older ties. There is about 18-24" gap between the ties and fence. So when I bought my house a couple years ago I looked into the whole railroad tie deal, because I wanted to plant in that gap. There are a few University studies that show the older ties are fine to use. One of the reports was from UCLA or CAL I can't remember which. But if a study out of Cali says it ok, you're good. They don't approve anything. Anyway. I've planted a ton of herbs in that gap. No issues at all.

All that said. If I was going to do a raised bed and could find a good deal on older ties, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Thanks Derek

If you put one in and into growing hot peppers let me know. I have all kinds of seeds I can send you.

I just put in 3 raised beds out of old ties (40 yrs). The beds are stacked with ties 4 high and are approx 3-4' wide x 20' long. I have peppers, melons, squash and some flowers at this point. So far so good. I used old tree limbs & decaying tree trunks that I cut down on the bottom up to the first 2 ties high and then used soil to the top of the third one and then topped it off with potting mix. It's the first time I have used raised beds this high, but so far I like not having to bend over so much.

The one on the right has the plants I transplanted when I tore up the original garden in June. I will add more into the other raised beds for a fall garden.

Those look great Papa! That was a hella lota soil to fill them bad boys up. Well done.

Thanks, I will keep you posted on how they produce.

Wow man, that is A LOT of work just stacking the rr ties and filling with soil. You better grow some great stuff in there!

My friend used old RR ties for his and the cresote was pretty much gone. They were gray with no visible sticky residue. No problems with plant growth.

I used some old cedar 2x planks from a pergola I tore down. I faced the 2x's with cedar pickets to please my wife. I'll be making another one this fall.

looking good aRoller.. Hopefully this fall or next spring will look like yours. Right now this heat is wearing my plants out.

One trick is I topped out my soil with Dyno Dirt from Denton. The top 6-8 inches are Dyno with the bottom soil being a sandy loam.

You could line them tin, I did on mine to keep the wood from rotting where I used some old cedar and to be able to use treated wood to build them with. It's a cheaper solution to build a taller bed too.

Is modern treated wood still an issue? I could understand treated wood of decades ago not being acceptable since it was treated with arsenic.