Karen's painted new railway sleeper raised beds

My August bank holiday project. I had decided to change the front garden, but before I could do that I either needed to buy lots of pots or make a nursery bed for the plants I wished to save. Looking at my back garden there was a space approximately 2 metres x 0.6 metre currently not being utilised. I wanted the nursery bed to be about the same height as the patio wall and the stone raised bed it was going in between.

I bought 6 x 2.4m and 6 x 0.6m x 200mm x 100mm new pressure treated railway sleepers. I first laid them on the ground on pieces of wood and over the course of a few days painted them with 2 coats of Cuprinol wood preserver. I removed the existing stones, bricks, concrete tubes and cement from the intended area. I dug a trench and put in some stones to help with drainage and levels. I cut some of the railway sleepers to length and painted the cut ends twice. I then constructed two layers of railway sleepers by placing them onto their narrow edge and fastening them together with 150mm Timberlok screws. The third (top) layer I laid flat on the wider edge and screwed it down. Finally I painted the cut ends and the top again. I filled up the raised bed with a mix of soil and compost and moved the plants from the front garden to the back. Job done!
Karen Frost
West Bridgford
Nottingham

RAILWAY SLEEPERS USED:
New British pine eco friendly railway sleepers.

RailwaySleepers.com Says..

Many thanks for sharing both your collection of photographs and your written commentary that perfectly documents the different stages of the construction of your raised beds. Most people tend to leave railway sleepers as they are, to gradually weather and bleach in the sun, but you've decided to paint your railway sleepers which has made such a visual and creative difference. They look really attractive and a perfect raised bed in which those moved plants can thrive.