Natural Colour Treatment

In the old days ex-railway sleepers were sometimes used for garden landscaping, however, the oil, diesel, and other unfriendly hydrocarbons meant that they were often too toxic for use in raised beds and other sensitive areas.

Today’s garden sleepers start life as clean timber and are treated with Tanalith-E, which bonds to the cellular structure of the wood, ensuring longevity without being toxic. Garden sleepers have never been anywhere near supporting a railway line, so you can be confident that they won’t import any nasties into your back yard.

The treatment leaves the garden sleepers in either green or brown, both naturally complimentary to any backyard setting. Use them to edge a garden pond. Tanalith-E will not affect wildlife or aquatic plants or fish.

Garden Sleeper Ideas

You can do a lot with garden sleepers, delivering rustic character, imposing order, or marking garden transitions.

Garden Edging

Garden sleepers are brilliant for garden edging and defining planted areas. You can install them very quickly too, especially in well-drained areas. Simply dig a shallow trench, level and compact the ground, and lay your sleepers in place.

In damper areas you might want to put in a shallow concrete or gravel foundation to improve drainage. In the main, the rule of thumb used by landscape gardeners is one-third-in, two-thirds-out, which would make your sleeper set 60mm below the ground level for maximum stability.

Raised Beds

Stacking wooden garden sleepers is a great way to get that raised bed going quickly. Fix them together with long outdoor-grade screws or bolts. In a smaller garden make sure to give yourself ample room between raised beds for access with a wheelbarrow.

Sleeper Steps

Garden sleepers are 200mm x 100mm, which means that when laid on their side, they can make perfect steps between garden levels. Always make sure that they are laid perfectly flat and level to eliminate any wobble!

Whatever your wooden garden sleeper requirements, call us at Wade to discuss what you need and when to deliver.