Hobbies And Pastimes

I’m a card carrying member of the baby boomer generation and I know what it’s like to find you can’t manage some of the things you used to do, or you can, but you do them a lot slower. My gardening ability comes to mind as an area that now requires some extra thought, a little bit of adjustable thinking can produce some cunning ways of getting around some problems. One of the best ideas to help the gardener with age or handicap related problems is to make good use of raised beds.

To allow for easy reach you need to build your bed to about 2 feet high and 3 feet wide, this is easily done with a timber frame. This eliminates any kneeling and decreases bending for us as we get older, more importantly it also gives anyone confined to a wheelchair the opportunity to enjoy doing some of the light maintenance work in their garden.

There are lots of other benefits to having raised beds other than easy access. For instance your yield of vegetables can be greatly improved, weeds are less and the few you might get are easier to manage, pest control is also much easier and any problems you might have with your soil are eliminated.

Your plant selection is increased, you can grow fruits, herbs, flowers as well as vegetables. In fact, anything that likes a well drained soil will thrive in a raised bed garden.

Your garden beds will need less water because you can plant your crops a lot closer together than you would normally. Then there’s the added advantage of less weeds because of less room to grow and shady conditions.

Raised beds can be used to extend the growing season, making it easier to start seeds outdoors earlier, and grow later in the season. This is a great way to get even more produce out of the area in a season.

You’ll be able to use rich, well composted soil in your raised beds, so any type of soil problems you’ve had in your garden become a thing of the past. This way of gardening allows you to overcome any shortcomings you have in your soil.

As a gardener, you’ll also appreciate that you don’t have to walk on your raised beds very often, so the soil isn’t getting compacted like it normally would, this lets your plants develop stronger roots. Your plants will show their appreciation by producing a bigger, more luxurious crop.

Diseases and pests are easier to control in raised beds. Since you’re starting with fresh soil, it’s less likely to be contaminated with diseases that could infect your plants. If your plants do become infected, you can simple dispose of the soil in that bed and start again from scratch.

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