I can’t stand the stuff!! I swear it is unstoppable. With vine like roots that invade any crevasse they can find, this grass is so invasive!!! I did me best last year to keep it out of my planter boxes but the crab grass invasion couldn’t be stopped. I was constantly pulling these endless roots from the soil and the more I pulled out, the more it came in. I had to do something to keep this crab grass from invading my veggie boxes this year without the use of chemicals. Plus even with the use of chemicals this stuff doesn’t go away easily.
So after some brainstorming with Mama-Splatts we came up with a plan. Then it was Mach 10 turbo speed!!! I’ve been cooped up all winter and the chance to get outside and build something was the perfect remedy. I was so trigger happy I forgot to take a photos of what things looked like before... maybe I can dig up an old photo hang on... let me flash back in time before the snow.
As you can see the boxes rest right on the ground. This was a perfect way for the crab grass to invade these boxes. I had no idea it was such a huge problem until late in the year last year... well after battling this
Let’s Do this!!
First let’s discuss this gameplan we have for eliminating this crabby enemy of ours.
- Remove all the dirt from the boxes
- Install cedar planks on the bottom
- Line the bottom with burlap
- Elevate the boxes off the ground
- Clean all roots and other debris from the dirt
- Fill the boxes with clean crab-grass-root-free dirt
These boxes are 12 feet long and about 3 feet wide. There is a lot of dirt that needs to be taken out. Boy am I glad I have some help this time around. We laid down a tarp and started digging out all the soil, placing it on the tarp. Then we moved the frame of the box and cleaned up any other roots that we could find.
We took the frame of the box and moved it out into the yard so we had some room to work.
Having a chop saw made this so fast and easy it was insane!! I was able to cut 3 planks at a time. Set the stopper at the desired length and slide them down, line them up, and cut.
Those post chunks you see in the bottom of the picture are actually what the boxes are going to set on top of to elevate them off the ground. They are old cross arms from powerpoles that I had laying around. Actually they used to form my kids swingset but they have outgrown it anyway so they won’t be missing it.
Having all the planks cutwe began screwing down all the planks to the bottom of the box leaving about 1/2 in gap in between for drainage.
In order to keep the dirt from falling through the cracks, I doubled up some burlap and laid it in the inside. I was a little worried about the planks sagging under the weight of the wet soil. So for some added support I ran a 2x4 down the middle of the box on top of the burlap, inside the box. Screwed the ends in place, then flipped it over and placed a screw in each plank attaching it to the 2x4.
Now it was time to move this box back into its place in the garden but first we needed to setup the blocks that it was going to rest on. At first I was thinking about putting the box on “stilts” Placing the cross arm prices on end like a post. There is going to be a lot of weight in these boxes and I didn’t have, on hand, any lag screws or bolts to attach them to the boxes. Screws just weren’t going to cut it this time. So we put our heads together and came up with this as a solution.
Lay the pieces flat and stack them. Put them on each end and in the middle of the box. When we first got the box up and in place it was a bit wobbly from being balanced on top of the stacked blocks. This problem was solved by screwing the 2x4 blocks on the side as shown above. Now there is little to no movement in the box.
Time to get this dirt cleaned out and put back where it belongs... in this box and not on a tarp. We threw a few scoops in the box and sorted through it with our hands, removing any roots we could find. My little shaker boxes I made weren’t working too good because the soil was so wet. Plus it would have taken forever!!! Check out how many crab grass roots we pulled from just this one box.
Some of these roots were so thick, you would think they were tree roots or something.
Little by little the first box began to fill up. Just keep shoveling and sifting and sorting through it. I do have to say that this is some nice looking soil.
I want to fill this box to the top, so we began sifting soil from the other box. The soil did seem a bit dryer in the other box, so my softer boxes worked pretty good. Oh ya, I think we found another 15-20 strawberry plants in the other box. Those thin were everywhere.
Great where am I suppose to put all these Strawberries? I guess I will just have to make a couple more boxes that attach to my deck posts
With the first box topped off and ready for the starts I have inside to be planted, we started on the next box. This one was far worse than the first. Crab grass roots everywhere!! You could hardly take a scoop of dirt without getting your shovel tangled up in the roots. This is a handful of roots that I just reached in and ripped out of the box.
We repeated the same process for the second box but we did notice some 2x4’s that were is pretty bad shape. We ripped them off and they will be replaced the next day when I run to the store. We were able to get the bottom on and in place and leveled up. It is just missing the 2x4’s around the top edge so it does look a little funny. They can be added on later, no worries.
The sun was starting to go down and we were pretty worn out. With a mountain of dirt filled with crab grass roots, we called it quits for the day. Time to enjoy some dinner and have a cold one or two. I would say we made some real good progress today and should have this buttoned up tomorrow... wait it is tomorrow... this post is about yesterday... so tomorrow is actually today???
It’s still getting down close to freezing at night and it feels really good to get a head start on the garden this year. With these sunny days I can make some really good progress and get things setup for the growing season. It’s only heating up to around 50F, but that is good working weather to me.
Steem On
and
Hard Work
Will
Pay Off
