Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

It sounds ingenious and in the end it's all about workarounds, isn't it. 
Wheelchair accommodation is a whole subject in itself and not explained much 
in many garden sources. I assume it helps to start with level ground. Cinder 
blocks are more permanent than my boards ;-) but doing it on a shoestring 
ruled that out for me. True they do take more space but you've made up for 
that by planting in them.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/11/2010 at 6:35 PM Elizabeth B. wrote:

>I have raised beds that run east and west that fall on a slight northerly
>slope. I made my beds out of 8x16x8 cinder blocks and I love them. My beds
>are 48 inches wide by 15 and 25 ft lengths and 8 inches high. My root crop
>beds are double stacked (16 inches high), using 8x16x8 cinder blocks with
>rebar in each hole, kitty-cornered, just to keep them from shifting.
>
>Being wheelchair bound, I left 4 ft between my beds with 5 feet between
>aisle ways. I use both 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch irrigation tubing with four
>or five "rainbirds" per bed; I can direct the water so it stays within the
>bed. I like the water spraying upwards because it knocks the worms down
>and forces other unwanteds to move on. I have a single spigot that allows
>water to all the beds.
>
>Mitch, you're in Texas if I recall correctly. I bought my cinder blocks
>from ACME bricks in Bryan/College Station. A market gardener friend and I
>bought an entire flatbed together and delivery was free plus, we got
>contractor prices. I have a small CSA. Bryan has the Compost Facility and
>I get compost for less than a penny a pound. The compost is tested for
>toxicity and it's all organic matter. I go in and have the truck bed
>filled as well as the 16' trailer. We came by TPO roofing plastic for free
>and use this to line our trailer with. A tarp over it all keeps the
>compost from blowing. If you need phone numbers and addresses, let me
>know.
>
>I can only speak about bed heights from a wheelchair. You can go with bed
>heights as low as 4 or 6 inches if you plan on digging the soil within
>that bed and amending the soil. You can also go as high as 28 inches using
>it as a table top method of gardening. For example, you can use plywood or
>corrugated tin as your framing. I'ld keep the plywood at 10 inches high
>and the tin at either 8 or 12 inches and the stakes outside the planting
>bed. Just know what you plan on growing in taller beds and match their
>mature height to those beds or you could be harvesting using a step
>ladder. I chose 8 inches because I had no intentions of digging.
>
>Within the holes of my cinder blocks, I grow single plants of marigolds,
>nasturtiums, onions, beets, turnips as well as chives and single onions
>bulbs. In my tomato bed, I grew turnips in front of the tomatoes with
>romaine lettuce inside each cinder block hole.
>
>Elizabeth
>
>
>
>
>
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