cardboard boxes as raised beds

I've been using cardboard boxes as raised beds for flowers, herbs, and vegetables.  Seems to be working well.  The boxes deteriorate until the beds become naturalized.  In this way I am slowly transforming my grass lawn into a food producing pollinator haven.

I have read here on the forum that is a great way to plant potatoes.

When a person is ready to harvest potatoes, the boxes are picked up and the potatoes fall out.

Love it!

Hi What is your climate?  I wanted to try this but boxes disintegrated quickly; I use them for base layer mulch. cheers Doug

I do support the bed of boxes with things like cinder blocks,  or lumber fitted into those raised bed blocks available at lowes,  until the bed becomes stable on its own, which seems to take about three years.  Then I just move the stabilizing structures to the next bed.

Do be aware that Paul has a thread about the glue in those cardboard boxes.

Paul said, First, it is possible to make newspaper/cardboard that would be safe (by my standards) for gardens.  But most use chemicals that I am not comfortable with.

https://permies.com/t/2157/concerns-cardboard-newspaper-mulch

I did this at my previous location, it started as an emergency solution for too many plants and then I realized it was a great tool to continue building my garden with.   I've planted potatoes in boxes this season.  I put some logs around the boxes to help things stay together and everything seems to breakdown and naturalize nicely into a slightly raised mound eventually.  Even without logs, I don't find the boxes breakdown too quickly and I was in western NC and am now in upstate NY- both are humid locations.  It has been an unusually rainy spring/ start to summer and the boxes are holding up ok so far.  

I just read Paul's thread about cardboard potentially having toxic chemicals and it's a bummer.  It's had me wondering if I should keep moving forward with this and that's why I delayed in adding my two cents to the topic.  After much soul searching, I think I will because I can't think of a way that compares in cost effectiveness and convenience.  I was about to purchase 5 gallon plastic pots or food grade buckets for my peppers, since I will bring them indoors for winter but then I wonder what will leach out of the plastic.  I think the plants will also need less watering and grow better if they are not so restrained at first, and so I'm going to continue with the boxes and move them into containers at the end of the season.  

I guess our bodies will be the experiment as to how safe this is.  It's just depressing that nothing is safe in this world and every time you think you've found a cool short cut, there's an unsettling twist you didn't see coming.  

Similarly, if you can get bales of spoiled hay (with no gick), you can set them where you want to occult the grass or whatever, and plant right into the hay-bale. They're nice and rectangular like boxes!

Christopher Weeks wrote:Similarly, if you can get bales of spoiled hay, you can set them where you want to occult the grass or whatever, and plant right into the hay-bale. They're nice and rectangular like boxes!

Good idea. It will certainly smother grass. Planting will work if you have the rainfall or surplus water to support it. (That's not me, sadly.)

It's wise to know the source of the hay first. Persistent nasty things are about and can spoil the party.

Yeah, that's a good point -- my hay guy doesn't spray anything which is both what I want and keeps the price down! (And it does take quite a bit of water -- to condition the bales in the first place and to keep them hydrated for the roots.)