Building garden boxes

As I've said, the garden plots at my site are generally loaded with weeds.  In my attempt to avoid being overwhelmed by weeds, I try to eradicate them and isolate my crops from exposure to the weeds I've missed through screening.

To cut down on cost, I've gone to using salvaged lumber.  Here's an example of potential cost savings.  Wednesday, I purchased four 2"x4"x8' boards from the Forklift for the arbor project.  The cost was $5.09 after tax was included.  In a search I just ran on Home Depot and Lowes websites, boards the same dimensions would cost me $11.66 and $13.44, respectively.  There are generally similar levels of cost savings for other sized boards, as well.

There are two obvious problems with using salvaged lumber:

1. Items are often in less-than-prestine condition.
2. You don't know the history.

Salvaged wood can be painted, mashed, split, drilled, cut in any number of ways, warped, partially rotted, and pressure treated. As a result, being patient when visiting a salvage yard (it can take multiple trips to get what you need for a single project) and being careful of what you're buying are necessary skills to have.

The sides of my garden boxes are built from larger boards whenever possible.  One of my professors in college once said to the class that engineers are, by nature, lazy.  We try to avoid work whenever possible.  That's why we continually try to increase efficiency and save work all the time.  The same goes here.  I'd rather not have to cut down two or three smaller boards to create a side, cut down two or three smaller pieces to use as splice pieces, align everything, nail the sides together and then say, "whew!  One side done.........three more to go."  If I can get a 2"x12" that'll do the job, all the better.

Lesson learned: Don't make more work for yourself than you have to.  The garden will ensure you will never run out of things to do.

I've experimented with different means of assembling the boxes.  While nailing is convenient (although somewhat dangerous if your aim stinks), it also creates problems in that wood that becomes swelled can and will begin to push the nails out.  That causes a number of problems.  I've gone to using deck screws to assemble the sides of my boxes.  I still use nails when I have to splice pieces together to create sides, though.  Those nails don't seem to get pushed out for some reason.

Lesson learned: Drill pilot holes for where you intend to run in screws for box assembly.  It helps prevent the wood from splitting.

I didn't build bottoms to my boxes.  I suppose bottoms would further isolate my plants from potential weed propagation, but I figured that screening the soil of weed roots, using weed fabric at the bottoms of my boxes, and sinking the 1/8" plastic around the borders of my plot would be sufficient.  Having bottoms would also potentially cause drainage problems (even with holes drilled in the bottom) while also adding to the expense of the project.

I'll try to dig up some old pictures of boxes being built and upload sometime later.