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Some expensive vegetables

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Keith_M

Keith_M

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For some time now my wife has been asking me to build some raised vegetable beds to add to what we already have. Being the great husband that I am, I decided to put some in this spring. With the help of my 15-yr-old son, I built two 16x3 ft raised beds (picture attached). Here is my cost breakdown:


18 railroad ties @ $15 apiece = $270
6 cubic yards of topsoil delivered = $300
my son's labor = $60
rebar to hold the ties together = $60
one new drill (burned out my old one drilling through the ties for the rebar) = $160
one new phone for my son (smashed by a railroad tie) = $150
one hernia operation for me (happening Monday) = $1000 (insurance covers a lot)


Total cost = $2K


I could try to calculte the cost of the vegetables that these beds will produce, but I'm too busy trying to push my hernia back in.:sick:


At least I can drive my Healey during the recovery period.
beds.jpg
 
maybe pricey but your grandkids will be able to grow things in those beds. Them's kreosote ties?
 
kellysguy said:
maybe pricey but your grandkids will be able to grow things in those beds. Them's kreosote ties?
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Good point. I feel somewhat better.

Yep, they are creosote soaked. Ungodly heavy. The light ones were close to 200 lbs, and there was one that had to be close to 300. Which explains the hernia.
 
Don't turnip your nose on the cost... the veggies will be delicious!
 
Tommy (of Tom & Ray - Cartalk fame) used to joke that tomatoes from such beds cost several dollars a piece (when you factor it all in).
 
RAISED BEDS! Good grief - there are easier ways to raise beds ...

774612106769p.jpg


PS - yours look *great*. What going on the trellis - peas?

Tom
 
And speaking of fruits and vegetables:
bonless.jpg
 
Boink said:
Tommy (of Tom & Ray - Cartalk fame) used to joke that tomatoes from such beds cost several dollars a piece (when you factor it all in).
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Exactly. However, it's hard to put a price on the guilt that my wife feels because I got a hernia building vegetable beds for her. I just have to figure out an appropriate way to cash in. :greedy_dollars: Hmmm... maybe I could get another Healey out of this...
 
Railroad ties are a popular landscaping material. As a friend I feel compelled to showyou this and let you decide :


https://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/creosote-concerns

There was an old creosote plant in my old town that wound up becoming a superfund project. After it was finished, it was turned into a park in which I would later propose to my wife (how's THAT for symbolism? :highly_amused: )

All that being said, weathered ties won't leak as much but as a friend, I feel I must let you know so you can make an informed decision. Who knows, using them may be fine.

While I do feel bad about saying this now, I'd feel even worse if I didn't and something happened.
 
You can get ties for free... As long as the railroad, police, etc.... Aren't looking. Around here they are $6 a piece
 
The ones I see in our area that are really cheap are REALLY chewed up. Seems that modern replacement involves a machine that bites them in half.
I once made a large bed with some really nice ones, but found that if they are too fresh the creosote was a bit much. :fat:
 
Only a few of his look freshly. All I've seen here was chewed up too.
 
kellysguy said:
Railroad ties are a popular landscaping material. As a friend I feel compelled to showyou this and let you decide :


https://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/creosote-concerns

There was an old creosote plant in my old town that wound up becoming a superfund project. After it was finished, it was turned into a park in which I would later propose to my wife (how's THAT for symbolism? :highly_amused: )

All that being said, weathered ties won't leak as much but as a friend, I feel I must let you know so you can make an informed decision. Who knows, using them may be fine.

While I do feel bad about saying this now, I'd feel even worse if I didn't and something happened.
Click to expand...

Hi Billy,
I appreciate this post. I have heard about the potential health hazards associated with creosote-soaked ties, and I would never recommend that someone else use them because, well, it's someone else. That said, I think they're pretty safe. The amount of creosote that leaches out must be pretty small. They're pretty old, and everything I've read says that the nasty stuff leaches or gasses out early in the life of the tie. Besides, if much creosote leached out each time they got wet, there would be any left by now. Also, what leaches out would have to be taken up by the plant roots and then deposited in the edible portion of the plant. As a plant biologist, I can tell you the amount would be vanishingly small.

I wouldn't want to handle or use freshly soaked ties, or ties that were still wet looking with creosote, but I think old ones are pretty safe. I wouldn't advise anyone to use them for all the standard legal reasons.
 
NutmegCT said:
PS - yours look *great*. What going on the trellis - peas?

Tom
Click to expand...

Beans on the tall one in the foreground; peas on the shorter one behind. I know your expertise in gardening; so when things don't grow as planned, I know who to ask!
 
Yeah Kelly'sGuy...creosote is bad news for vegetables...
 
Keith_M said:
Hi Billy,
I appreciate this post. I have heard about the potential health hazards associated with creosote-soaked ties, and I would never recommend that someone else use them because, well, it's someone else. That said, I think they're pretty safe.
.
Click to expand...

Yew shure yew aint redneck? Yew sound like me. :eagerness:


Rub up aqainst the dark one and see if ya start burnin. I've been around lots of older pilings as a kid and they'll eat you alive. They were outlawed for use down here a while back (pilings, not ties).

Hey, as a biologist, any way to test your produce and see if they pick any up? It'd be a great project and maybe a tax write off. :eagerness:
 
kellysguy said:
Yew shure yew aint redneck? Yew sound like me. :eagerness:


Rub up aqainst the dark one and see if ya start burnin. I've been around lots of older pilings as a kid and they'll eat you alive. They were outlawed for use down here a while back (pilings, not ties).

Hey, as a biologist, any way to test your produce and see if they pick any up? It'd be a great project and maybe a tax write off. :eagerness:
Click to expand...

Oh I've definitely got some redneck in me, although I don't like to admit it in polite company. Of course, I didn't propose to my wife on a superfund site, so I think you may be out of my league.:highly_amused: On the other hand, are you sure you're not a scientist? You sure sound like one (no insult intended).

Getting plants to take up soil contaminants is a scientific discipline all to itself -- called phytoremediation. It's a bit out of my area, but the govmint definitely throws lots of money at it. Most plants don't readily take up stuff like heavy metals and coal-tar (creosote), so most of the research is centered on finding unusual plants that DO take up these materials and then either break them down or just store them so they can be 'harvested'.

I could access loads of scientific literature on the subject if I had access to my university's library, but I'm on my home computer at the moment so I can't (you should probably be thankful for this). In general, these studies grow plants on soils with very high levels of contaminants (like superfund sites) and get almost no uptake. That's why I said that even if a little of the nasty stuff leaches out, I doubt that much of it will find its way into the vegetables.

However, for the record, I did NOT say it's safe to use railroad ties to build vegetable gardens! :angel:
 
Keith_M said:
I could access loads of scientific literature on the subject if I had access to my university's library, but I'm on my home computer at the moment so I can't (you should probably be thankful for this).
Click to expand...

Believe me, we are! :jester:


Sis is a marine biologist and mom was a cytotechnologist. I do love science but I'm no scientist. If "things" would'a been different... who knows.....

I did manage to get the highest grade in both of my college biology classes out of 200 people though. (98) :thumbsup: ( and I was pi$$ed about those two points too)


I was just thinking this would be a great opportunity to find out for sure if they posed a health concern.That being said, sounds like you know what's up. I dunno much about it. I know more about gettin stuff out of 'em than in'um.
 
Gonna do a paper on this? I know it's a bit late with no control samples but still would be cool. It would be even better if it became a tax write off. :wink:
 
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