Question about cedar raised beds, did the hype hold up for anyone?

Back in 2015 I built my first raised bed out of cheap pine, it rotted through by 2018. This spring I redid them with cedar, spent about $340 total, and I'll admit I was skeptical about the price difference. The boards still look brand new after 5 months of heavy rain, no swelling or warping. Has anyone else seen cedar last past the 5 year mark, or am I just getting lucky?

1 comments

1 Comment

martin.felix12d ago

Funny how that works, right? It's like the whole buy once cry once thing but for lumber. I did the same math with deck boards a few years back, went with cedar over pressure treated because I was tired of replacing splintered planks every few summers. My neighbor went cheap and he's already patching his fence while mine's still solid. It's the same with tools or tires honestly, you pay more upfront but you stop paying over time. The rain test is a good one too, cedar just shrugs it off where pine soaks it up and rots from the inside. So nah, I don't think you're lucky, I think you just made the smarter call. You planning to seal it or let it gray out naturally?