Rick - Living in Florida, my yard is very sandy and therefore easily eroding over the years. I need to plant more raised beds throughout my backyard to stop the erosion. That takes time and money which I don't have a lot of right now. But I do try to add a little at a time each year.
The recycled plastic lumber slates are similar to these:
http://www.markstaar.com/Recyc...
I found 1 1/2" X 8" X 8' slates and they were something like $25 each at Home Depot a year ago. I don't know if they still carry them, but they were expensive but exactly what I was looking for. They won't rot.
The cinder blocks cost me about $1.20 each and the caps were $1.40 each a year ago. This is what they are listed for now at Home Depot:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/...
Oddly, I don't see the cinder block size that I used. I only see 8" x 4" x 16" cinder blocks. Hmmmm .... I am sure they still make the ones I used. The blocks I used were 8" H x 8" D x 16" L.
The caps were the most expensive, so if you don't use concrete top cap blocks, you could create a raised bed for relatively cheap if you just build it one cinder block high (which is 8" high). I forget how many blocks it took me to create the bottom bed of the 3-tiered bed, but it was actually 10" high with the caps added. Being 8" in depth, they are a wide enough area to sit on.
My raised bed will look a lot better once the cinder blocks and caps are painted blue, IMHO. I need to sand down the smeared construction adhesive first though to get a smoother paint finish.
