Skip to Content

The cheapest, longest lasting garden boxes ever

Garden boxes are awesome. They can also be expensive. Last year I spent hours evaluating lumber options for our garden boxes. Pressure treated was, of course, out. Cedar was a good bet. Also redwood. However, those came at a cost of nearly three times as good old douglas fir boards.

In the end, we went with doug fir. It cost under $100, and we figured that even in our humid location here in the Pacific Northwest we should get maybe five years use out of them, and replacing them was still less expensive than using the more expensive lumber.

Raised garden bed with frost cover

But I really, really hate redoing my work.

Then just today it hit me. The most beautiful, genius plan ever. I was in the middle of burning a project when this bit of inspiration came. Wood burning, or sho sugi ban, it is an ancient Japanese form of wood preservation. Charring the wood renders it weather resistant, bug resistant, and believe it or not, even fire resistant.

It’s also quite fun.

sho shugi ban burned wood torch

By charring the garden boxes we should get maybe up to 80 years of use out of our boards instead of 5. Admittedly, that may be a high estimate, because our boards were burned after the garden has been in place for a year and are, obviously, full of dirt.

Burning your garden boxes

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

I cannot recommend this method for existing gardens, simply because it is not very safe to burn in place, and because it is not possible to get down past the dirt. That said, that is exactly what I did. We live in a place the Japanese once failed to burn to the ground simply because winters are so darn wet here. (Really.) The garden was surrounded by a thick coat of algae when I burned the boxes. Still, I don’t recommend it because it would make me really sad to hear someone burned their home to the ground. So, just to restate, this is a what we did rather than a you should do.

I do most of my wood burning projects on the driveway with a water hose right on hand. It’s good practice. You’ll find it is surprisingly difficult to actually start the wood burning, but there’s nothing to be lost by caution.

We use a torch attached to a propane tank. We picked it up for $30 at Harbor Freight. I believe it is the same as this one on Amazon. The idea is to burn the wood until you get a good, deep char – until it develops the look of alligator skin.

That’s really it. You can brush it down to knock off the soot. I did not bother with a finish on mine. Finishing with a natural oil looks great, but, well, that’s a lot of oil.

Here’s how those boxes look now. It’s February, so the garden isn’t so pretty as it was in that first photo. Come spring it will be bursting with greens and looking like a million bucks. Which is great, because it cost a whole lot less.

sho sugi ban burned wood garden boxes

sho sugi ban burned wood garden boxes

Seriously, everything is still looking very…winter around here. It’s been raining for days and I went and grabbed these photos the moment it cleared. That’s not burn marks on the fence, it’s mud splatter from the power washing we started on our algae covered patio.

Is it Spring yet?!

sho sugi ban burned wood garden boxes

Follow along for the next few decades and I’ll let you know how these boxes are holding up!

 

Pin it so you don’t forget it↓

sho sugi ban burned wood garden boxes

Andy Keller

Tuesday 23rd of March 2021

I just finished my boxes. I didnt this without seeing your site first. I’ve done quite a bit of research on which oil to use to seal it. There are dry setting oils and wet setting oils. Boiled linseed, tung, and Dutch oil are dry setting but have drying agents that are not good for gardening. Mineral oil, lard, and olive are wet setting. Wet setting will wash off fairly quickly. Raw linseed oil is organic and dry setting but fairly expensive. What I eventually came up with is hemp seed oil. It is dry setting, organic, food safe, and fairly cheap.

Sarah

Wednesday 31st of March 2021

Hi Andy. There are a lot of oil options, for sure. I did this process again with our newer boxes (https://thecreatedhome.com/shou-sugi-ban-garden-boxes/) and opted for Tung oil (you want to get the good stuff from a woodworking store or the like rather than from a big box store). It has held up great. I'm glad to hear hemp seed has worked for you!

Shou sugi ban garden boxes - The Created Home

Tuesday 22nd of September 2020

[…] I blogged about that here.  […]

LYNN VARGO

Monday 31st of August 2020

Thank you so much! This is exactly the info I've been looking for. Saw this wood burning technique on TV, probably "Off The Grid" and wondered how it would work on square foot gardens. My husband and I are newly retired and it's time to do some replacement. I'd like to only have to do it once and this may be the way to go.

Sarah

Thursday 1st of April 2021

I hope it worked out for you! We did it again last year with bigger boxes and they are holding up great!

Samantha

Monday 25th of May 2020

This is great! I just suggested this to my boyfriend and we have been searching for someone else who has tried this method. We were also considering line wash, but are still researching whether this will affect the soil quality.

Great job ????

Samantha

Sarah

Tuesday 16th of June 2020

Thank you! I actually created a new garden space this year and burned all of the boards before building the boxes. I'll be sharing that very soon!

Karen

Tuesday 21st of April 2020

Thank you for this!! Just finished burning my wood. It was awesome. Now we have to build the beds. Thinking of skipping the wire brush and oil as well. Thoughts?

Sarah

Tuesday 16th of June 2020

I would run brush over them quickly - not necessarily wire, but any scrub type brush. I just created a bigger garden area and did this again, but from the beginning so they were not in place again. I would brush them with a regular scrub brush quickly, and then oil. I used tung oil and recommend that route. I would NOT skip it. I'll have that post out soon if you would like some more details!