A raised bed from railway-style sleepers is about the most satisfying weekend build there is: heavy, simple, and good for twenty years. Here is how we would put one together.
Choose your sleeper
New treated softwood sleepers are clean, lighter to handle and ready to plant against. New oak sleepers are heavier and last longest, weathering to silver. Avoid reclaimed railway sleepers for veg beds — they are often soaked in creosote or oil.
Set the base level
Mark out the bed and level the ground — a bed that starts level stays square. On soft ground, lay the first course on a shallow bed of compacted gravel so it drains and does not sink at one corner.
Stack and pin
Lay the first course, then stack the next, overlapping the joints like brickwork. Pin courses together by drilling and driving long timber screws or lengths of rebar down through them. Two fixings per sleeper is plenty.
Line and fill
For a veg bed, staple a permeable liner to the inside to keep soil off the timber and slow moisture. Fill with a good topsoil-and-compost mix, leaving a couple of inches at the top for mulch.
Shop this project
We cut new oak and treated softwood sleepers to length at the yard, and stock the screws and rebar to pin them. Tell us your bed size and we will work out how many you need.