Seed Keepers

["Elizabeth B." <bluebonnethillminiaturesranch@webtv.net>]

Hope this isn't more information than what you were wanting to know Bill and please, feel free to share this with others. Gardening from raised beds isn't quite as cut and dried as "experts" like to make it. Let me just preface this by saying that I began my adventure as an amputee and then in 2000, as wheelchair bound.

4 ft wide raised beds are too wide, I would stay with a maximum width of 30 inches as there's less stress on your muscles, no straining whle reaching and less chances of your toppling over because your one good leg is overly tired or you've unbalanced your chair. I also believe that 10 to 15 ft lengths are perfect especially for those that are new amputees and manual wheelchair users. You just don't have the endurance in those muscles until you build those muscles and it's a long way back to the house, even if it's just outside your back door.

The only way to have a raised bed that you can slide onto from your chair is to first measure your chair's seat. You do this by measurng from the ground up to seat. I read one University's report where it stated that 30 INCHES was a perfect height for wheelchair users to just slide right on over onto. I laugh everytime I think of that report and here's why. Grab a chair and set it in front of your kitchen sink... could you slide right over onto your counter easily and without effort?

When it comes to raised beds; that typical 24 inch table top or raised bed height is a great idea... so long as you grow nothing taller than say lettuce, radishes or even strawberries in it! Why? Most bathroom sinks are right about 24 inches high, can you harvest potatoes or peppers that are 2 ft tall or as deep? No fair cheating by scooting up to the edge of the chair and half lifting yourself up either! Stay relaxed and against the backrest while you try this.

Disabled gardeners have got to match the height of the plant with the height of the raised bed they plan on growing in. If a plant grows 1 ft in height and your planting it in a 16 to 24 inch raised bed, this makes it very difficult to harvest from because of your having to reach up and over.

By the same token, that 6 to 8 inch raised bed.... care to see how you can harvest lettuce, radishes or even strawberries from something that low when you can't bend over safely as an amputee or when seat belted into your chair?

These are just some of the things I've discovered and there are more, lots more but those are more specific injury/ability related issues. Garden hoses are altogether another issue as are tools. Hope this information helps your friends.

Elizabeth
Able Farm and Ranch
Able Farm and Gardening