They'll store for months in the fridge. Just stuff in as many as you can. That's how I store my carrots and beets. I store my turnips right in the ground, packed under hay. On the other hand, if they've been sitting around for several weeks and are sprouting, they may already be way past peak for storage.

Thanks for the quick responses! I considered getting something to wrap around the boxes because, well, that makes sense that as the insides decompose it is likely that the outside will, as well. I will look into the chicken wire-- it seems that people on craigslist are always trying to liberate themselves of old stuff like that. As stupid as this sounds, the limiting factor for getting a normal large garbage bin is that everyone here has some sort of small, 2-door vehicle with limited and oddly-shaped cargo space. We're so not equipped for serious gardening. The reason I don't want just a free pile is that our fence is right next to a sidewalk and the community mailboxes (I have only seen this in Texas-- everywhere else I have ever been has had roadside mailboxes or door slots), so if for some reason something goes awry in the pile, I'd rather it be somewhat contained and able to be capped off to prevent aerating to mix onto the hapless old dogwalker who is checking her mail. Obviously the box alone would disintegrate with the elements so, again, I'll find something to give it some sort of structure on the outside. Oh, and unrelated to the topic at hand but certainly related to composting-- I believe there are fire ants in my leaf pile. I am not sure if they are indeed fire ants, nor do I want to find out phenomenologically, but there is a colony of something in there. Have any of you run into this, and would this pose any sort of problem to the pile? Sure, biting and stinging me sucks, but if they're doing something good to the composting process I'm sort of okay with it; if they're eating what should be breaking down my pile, I might have issues. And again, thank you all!

All I care about really is that it holds up long enough for me to harvest tomatoes from the container. Where I live, no one will see it but me, it's very isolated there so looks aren't important. Also, it will recycle back into the soil. I see all kinds of posts and other websites promoting cardboard as weed barriers, walkways in gardens, etc. so decomposing cardboard into the soil must not be too bad of an idea. I plan on reinforcing the sides with heavy twine or wire crimped together and was going ot line the inside with plastic trash bags, maybe two of them, but I really wished I could just use the plastic on the outside of the boxes, it seems with a 5-1-1 mix or heavy composition of pine bark fines, the soil would drain well and not be too compacted or wet inside the box and it's going to be placed on carpet backing. Still undecided here about how much to get into this. Even if it disintegrates, it seems the potting mix would still hold together enough to be able to contain it and keep growing once the box falls apart.

Hi Tammi, I had made myself a note to check back with you on the 20th.; but here you are. I am down on the other side of Wooster. I appreciate any help. The ideal size for the card boxes would be 9" long by 6" wide, by at least 2" deep. That means we would have to have a piece of card stock bigger than 8 1/2" X 11" to start with. Does the score-it board even accommodate that big of a sheet of paper? The one I looked at didn't appear to, but then I don't know anything about using one. Still have my heart set on those "glossy candy boxes" at that one site. I even called the other day and asked if I could buy less than 100. He flat out said, "No, 100 only". I pleaded a little. "No, orders of 100 only". Shoot. I don't even have 100 friends to send boxes of cards to!