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let the timber dry out first you could use a shed or fence paint if they do it in the shades that you want
This week I've been ripping out a load of old sleepers that had DPC put down the back, it was stapled on but over time soil has gotten down inbetween the DPC and the sleepers and they were soft 5 cm deep all the way across. The sleepers had only been in a few years. If you are going to DPC them then the top needs to be above the soil level because otherwise you're making it worse.
Softwood or hardwood sleepers Seth ? I only use oak.
Plan is to build 2 sleepers high with the 200mm face showing and put last sleeper flat as coping with an overhang at the front and sandwich the dpc beteen the coping and the wall. This should prevent soil ingress. However, I've wondered if the sleepers sweat at all when you line with dpc which would accelerate rotting. Alternative is paint inside with blackjack which is what i usually do.
Funnily enough i spoke with a landscape architect i work with yesterday and she said she is moving away from specifing sleepers as she has heard and seen a number of cases where they are barely lasting 5yrs. Quality of timber used for new sleepers is generally not very good these days. I am only looking at sleepers for this job to give the client what they want. It's a tricky situation.
maybe some kind of breeze block wall with timber cladding affixed to the front would be more practical
Oak. Trapping moisture against the wood would rot softwood even faster.