Rain, rain, took my garden away

Our heavy rains in Florida have washed out all the soil in three of 15 my boxes and then moved those boxes about 4 feet from their original places. All that soil-- gone. The plants are sitting bare rooted in the box. My heart is broken, all of that work. We had pine straw around out boxes, looks like we are going to need to plant grass to deal with the mass amounts of water that flow through in heavy rains. It's all water that comes right from my neighbors back yard and drains right through the garden. Didn't know that until this heavy rain.

Does anyone else have grass around their boxes, is it a pain to mow, especially when your plants get big and hang over the box?

Do I start over or give up? It means finding vermiculite all over again. Grrrrr. Will try to post pictures.

It's sad to think about all those plants sitting in the box with their roots showing and no dirt to keep them decent.
Don't give up. Here in New England our season is just getting started. It's not too late to start again.
I have two suggestions for you.
1. Put plywood bottoms on your boxes (with holes drilled in them like Mel's book says) This should help keep the dirt in. I did this to mine because I have trees near the garden and I did not want the roots invading the "good" dirt. It added a little less than $10 per box, far cheaper then the Mel's Mix it keeps in.
2. Put in a French drain between you and your neighbor. This should fix the rain runoff problem.

I have three foot isles and grass between my boxes. My only problem with moving was solved by firmly attaching the grids to the box. The first time I moved, the lawnmower wheel caught the grid and squished my new transplants. A little touch up with the trimmer is all that is required.

Let us know how it works out.

I hate to do this to you, but you might want to check the deed for your house...that volume of water isn't just ordinary runoff, that's a swale, either natural or manmade, and you should have been told about it before you closed on the property. It's all part of the wetlands and water-management issues in Florida, and you might well have legal recourse.

doityourselfer, French drains don't work in Florida...this is a state where the water table lies, on average, a whopping 24" below the surface...and most of the state is sandy, so it drains immediately. This is a much bigger issue than any drain is going to fix -- anything that moves a 4' x 4' x 8" deep pile of dirt four feet away is a signifiant drainage issue..