Weeds in box!

April Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:24 am

Hello! I am hoping to get some advice on our 3 4x4ft boxes. Despite our efforts we had grass growing into them. Mowed grass short, put 8 inch wood frames down, 2 inches of sand, weed cloth, then 6 inches of mel's mix. Grass poked right up through the weed cloth.

So my question is, can I re-do my boxes & use plywood on the bottom with drain holes if they are going to be sitting on the ground? I know they will rot eventually but if I can get 2 to 3 years out of them before I have to replace the frames I would be ok with that.

Thanks in advance & any other ideas are welcome! My head is spinning from lurking on here! April

**camprn** Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:36 am

If you are going to redo the boxes by removing everything and rebuilding in the same place, I recommend that you simply remove the sod and all the grass roots under where the boxes are going to be placed. Also keep the sod cut around the edges of the beds to reduce the risks of the roots reinfiltrating into the beds.

To answer your question directly, yes you can use plywood on the bottom but unless you remove the grass below, you may want to consider keeping the plywood above the ground by an inch or so.
$glad you\'re here$ to the SFG forum.

**Kelejan** Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:52 am

$glad you\'re here$ april happy hi

FamilyGardening Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:16 pm

i say if you take the time and effort to put bottoms on your box's why not add legs and make them table tops Very Happy

welcome

to SFG April

happy gardening
rose

April Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:51 am

Thanks for the warm welcomes!

My thought was to use plywood on the bottom & cover the drain holes with professional grade weed cloth and set it right on the grass. My hubby doesn't really want me digging up the yard & thinks if we raise the boxes a bit then we'll just have the weeds growing up under there. What do you think of this idea? I'm all about no weeds with the least amount of work possible. Am I lazy or what?

Thanks again for any & all advice. I'm so grateful to all of you who take the time to answer all of the questions on here. This site has been such a GREAT source of information for me! April

CapeCoddess Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:50 pm

April, I'm a lazy gardner, too. I actually used cupboards so I wouldn't have to build anything. sawing logs

So the backs of the cupboard are the bottom with drain holes. I didn't cover the holes and haven't noticed anything coming up from them, but it's only my first year.

When I got a little less lazy bounce

and started building boxes and put cardboard under them. I haven't had a problem there yet either, but I'm keeping an eye on nearby pines that I understand can be a problem.

I think plywood bottoms with weed cloth sounds like a great plan!

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. Photos are good.
CC

April Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:15 am

Thanks everyone! I'll give it a try and see how it goes! April

Hoggar Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:31 am

Hi April and Welcome to the forum.
I had the same issue with my boxes and Star of Bethlehem, I cut some plastic about an inch bigger than my boxes an laid it under them I haven't had a problem since.

otherguy Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:41 am

Hoggar wrote:Hi April and Welcome to the forum.
I had the same issue with my boxes and Star of Bethlehem, I cut some plastic about an inch bigger than my boxes an laid it under them I haven't had a problem since.

Did you add holes in the plastic for drainage?

GWN Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:25 am

I used cardboard last year when I started my beds and the horrible quack grass came right through.
There were a few beds that I started a little later on that I used that heavy fabric and it really keeps them out. It is great it allows the water through and nothing to come up.
So in the fall I redid many of my beds and took out all the MM and put in the heavy duty fabric and replaced the fabric.
The other thing I have done is to buy cheap old tarps and cut them to the size of my beds and stapled them down to cover the beds in the fall.

My plans are to totally leave the beds until I am ready for them to hopefully kill any remaining weeds... I have a really bad quack grass problem.

April Sun Jan 27, 2013 6:20 am

GWN, what was the name of the heavy fabric that you used? Thanks!

April Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:21 pm

Help! New question, same subject. The weather this Spring has been so cold in Michigan that I am now just getting around to rebuild my boxes. As I started to remove the M.M. I noticed all kinds of small roots in the mix. Can I assume that these are from last years crops & put the M.M. in my new boxes? It's obvious that some of the roots on the side of the box are from the grass that got in but I'm just not sure about all the other stuff I'm seeing. Any info would be much appreciated!

**llama momma** Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:45 pm

April,
I also found roots while transferring Mel's Mix to another box. I simply tugged gently and it seemed to be attached to nothing. Think it's from last years plants as you suggested.

**donnainzone5** Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:49 pm

I'd toss old roots (unless diseased) into the compost pile.

April Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:20 pm

Thanks for your help! I'll get to tossing as soon as it warms up! Cool

brainchasm Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:35 pm

GWN wrote:I used cardboard last year when I started my beds and the horrible quack grass came right through.
There were a few beds that I started a little later on that I used that heavy fabric and it really keeps them out. It is great it allows the water through and nothing to come up.
So in the fall I redid many of my beds and took out all the MM and put in the heavy duty fabric and replaced the fabric.
The other thing I have done is to buy cheap old tarps and cut them to the size of my beds and stapled them down to cover the beds in the fall.

My plans are to totally leave the beds until I am ready for them to hopefully kill any remaining weeds... I have a really bad quack grass problem.

Goosegirl Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:15 am

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