Showing posts with label raised beds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raised beds. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Gardening: Raised Beds

So you do not want to kneel down or bend over to garden, well you do not have to, simply raise the garden up, and reduce the effort required to do your gardening chores.
There are many ways to raise the garden up, you can put down some straw bales and plant right into them. You can put containers on a table or other platform; if you use a bench that a chair can slide under you can sit down and garden.
You can build your own raised bed garden using wood, bricks, concrete blocks, rubber tires, or compost and earth piled up above the ground. The approach you take is up to you and your needs, the time and resources you have available.
In a hurry, buy some organic soil, cut a slit into the bag and plant right into this, if you want it higher, put it on a table or bench.
If you choose to build a raised bed from wood for example, or buy a kit, the most workable size for the bed is four feet across, this way you can reach anywhere in the bed without stepping into it and compacting the soil by a minimum of eight feet long. You can make it longer or build more than one raised bed that is up to you and your situation.
One of the advantages to using a raised bed, besides the ease of gardening, is that the soil in the raised will warm up faster in the spring and you can get an early start. Another advantage to a raised bed is you can build a seat or two along the edge of the bed so that nine who is gardening can sit down while doing so.
The ease of access means that the various gardening chores, such as planting, weeding, deadheading, watering and perhaps the most fun, harvesting require less effort.
The organic gardener grows soil and this is often done by adding organic material such as compost to the soil. The raised bed make this a simple process because you first, control the soil you put in the bed so can start off with an ideal mix from day one, and second, a wheelbarrow and your hands, wearing gloves, of course, will be all you need to add the compost to the bed.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Accessible Gardening

I believe the only barriers to gardening are access to space and imagination. next week in my From The Garden column in the Campbellton Tribune, I begin a series of articles focused on accessible gardening, starting with raised garden beds.

My interest in gardening and accessibility goes back a number of years but this focus was recently sharpened by the reality that I have osteoarthritis in both knees. This will not keep me out of the garden.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Home Vegetable Garden News- July 29, 2014

An excerpt : "A raised garden bed allows backyard gardeners more control over the environment in which they grow their flowers, herbs and vegetables."


The Home Vegetable Garden News

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Raised Beds

The beds are ten feet by 4 feet and 2 feet deep, approximately. They are made from untreated wood.

Native Plants

There are two projects happening here in Campbellton that have me turning to the subject of native plants. When we are discussing native pl...