Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Elevated Garden Beds - Great for Senior Gardeners!



elevated garden beds to make gardening easier on knees and back

 

I've always been fond of gardening.  Even in my younger years when I lived in apartments, I would always have plants on my balcony.  Most of the time, I grew flowers, but over the years, I began also growing a few vegetables like lettuce and peppers.  Lettuce is really pretty and because you can snip off a leaf at a time, it stays pretty for quite a while as long as the weather is not too hot.

When I bought my first house, I happily saw that it had a lot of flower beds in the front and in the back.  I grew some very beautiful flowers, but as time passed I realized I was missing an opportunity to grow healthy vegetables to eat but also to save the money it would take to buy what I could easily grow myself.  I dug up all my annuals and  planted a blueberry bush, peppers and onions.  I got rid of the bushes down my driveway, and planted cucumbers. It took a few years and hard lessons, but overall, I was very pleased with the results. 

green peppers

As the years passed, I found it more and more difficult to bend or kneel in the dirt to plant and weed and harvest.  My knees were not what they once were.  It all came to a head when I had to have knee surgery,  After that, getting on my knees for anything, let alone gardening, was out of the question.  I was devastated.  I did nothing in the garden that summer, and by August it was a weeded mess.  I didn't even want to go out on the deck.  

I missed gardening very much, so I began to wonder if I could do raised garden beds.  They were up off the ground, but usually only about a foot.  I might be able to make due with this!  I decided to have a look on Amazon and see how expensive they were.  While scrolling through  The raised garden beds, I saw a garden bed that was up on legs!  The top of the dirt was at waist level and could be planted and weeded comfortably while standing up!  

EUREKA !!!!!

This was the solution I had been looking for.  After spending some time looking at the different styles and prices, I decided on this one:

elevated wood planter box

Elevated Wood Planter Box


This was about 5 years ago.  At that time, they were $99 each.  After checking today, I see that they are still the same price.  Not bad!  Unfortunately, they do not arrive at your house ready to go.  My husband and I had to put them together and stain them.  It was a lot of work, but it was very much worth it.  The only thing we added to the boxes was some metal strapping to reinforce the corners. 

metal strapping

Metal Strapping



Below is a picture of one of our boxes four years after we bought it.  Still looking pretty good!


stained elevated wood planter boxes for gardening


These garden beds have been a lifesaver for me.  I can grow my own vegetables without hurting my back or my knees.  Weeding is a breeze, and it is so much easier to examine your plants to look for problems like insect damage.  It just makes gardening so much easier, I wish I had known about them years ago!  We add a couple every year so we can grow more kinds of vegetables.  We are up to eight!  I highly recommend trying these garden beds if you dislike or are unable to garden in the ground  They are great for growing vegetables, herbs or flowers!


Our Garden

a beautiful garden area created with elevated garden beds


    https://www.reviewthisreviews.com/elevatedgardenbeds




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


12 comments:

  1. I haven't planted a garden for a few years, the last time I planted the deer destroyed all of my pepper and tomato plants. I have been thinking this year about raised bed gardening and would love to give it a try with a couple of these raised beds. Your garden looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! They really are easy after the initial labor. It's the easiest way to grow your own veggies.

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  2. Tracey, these raised garden beds on legs look terrific! I’m not much of a gardener (my husband tends to our outdoor plants while I have a few hardy indoor plants and some Hamama microgreens seed quilts under my care inside the house). But I have long wanted to try growing some fruits and vegetables. Our north-facing house doesn’t get a ton of sun, and our backyard is steeply sloped. But I plan to show these elevated garden beds to my husband, since when he eventually retires he, too, is interested in doing more gardening and trying to grow more of our own food (beyond just microgreens). Thanks so much for recommending these raised garden beds!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just buy one and see how it goes. At best you will get some great home grown food and at worse you will have a great place to plant pretty flowers!

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  3. Wow! Your elevated garden beds are awesome! My husband has mentioned wanting to start a vegetable garden. It would require making beds at this point in our yard. These elevated garden beds would be perfect for what he wants to do, plus I'm sure he would appreciate being able to garden while standing instead of on his knees. I also think they would prevent our wild bunnies (which we love) from eating his plants. Thank you so much for introducing me to these gardening beds. I think they are exactly what we need too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a great point that I should have included in my article! We never have any problems with bunnies eating our plants or produce. I really is a blessing if you love to grow lettuce, like I do. (and like the bunnies really love when it's planted in the ground)

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  4. What a terrific idea, Tracey. I would like to grow some tomatoes on my apartment patio and this would be perfect. Thanks for the awesome idea.

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  5. There are lots of smaller elevated garden beds that would be great for a balcony or small patio. I used to have a pair of pots on legs that I grew tomatoes in at my last apartment that had a small balcony. Got a lot of tomatoes off those plants!

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  6. Raised garden beds are a fantastic idea and something I am looking into for our next garden. So much easier on the back and knees!. It is also lovely to have plants at a higher level as you can see and access them more easily to work with the veg and admire the flowers! Yours look great! Thankyou for your recommendations.

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  7. Your garden is gorgeous. I've always wanted to add an elevated garden bed, but it's difficult to find a place that it would work in our yard. You're so right about them being ideal for seniors - I know for me having it elevated would make all the difference in terms of planting, and maintenace.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks like a great way to grow veggies without breaking your back or other nether regions. Good size and looks really nice. Thanks Tracey for your review!

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  9. This looks like something I could use.

    ReplyDelete

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