Hi, all, A comment on accessible beds (great posts!), but first a note that my copy of the new Community Greening Review 'special edition' arrived today, so it should be coming to ACGA members in the US shortly. Check your mailboxes. I'd welcome a quick note - to me or the list - telling when it arrives (who is a 'mother hen'?). I'd also like to hear what you think about it. Rumor has it that Canadian members got theirs a week ago.
Mine was very slightly damaged in shipping - the magazine was so close to the postage weight limit that the mailer decided against using a plastic wrapper. Still, it got through in 'good enough' shape. On p. 34-35 of the magazine, there's a helpful 'resource page' on accessible gardening. Meanwhile, we've used a design similar to the 'Casa' beds (thanks for that link, Jim, very helpful indeed), but use 'capstones' (cinderblocks without the holes, essentially, 16"x8"x4" (lwh, 40.46 cm x 20.23 cm x 10.16 cm - a 'standard' American building block size). Our most popular bed at the senior center where the beds are located is piled 5 blocks high (20 in/ 50.8cm) which is a handy height to sit on (we have no one currently in a wheelchair). In terms of irrigation on small beds like this, soaker hose (as Casa uses) is excellent (though I like T-tape irrigation hose better, when I can get it donated). Jim's point about burying irrigation hoses is right on, though be sure to mark the line with little flags or something more tasteful if you have volunteers who help with weeding and cultivating (esp. enthusiastic youth wielding hoes and the like). Water retaining polymers (such as 'Watercrystals' can be helpful in water management if combined with plastic mulch, according to research in New Mexico, but here where we get a lot of rain they can turn a bed into a gooey mess, so I'd be careful with that option - I don't use that product outdoors anymore. Good luck, Don Boekelheide Charlotte NC USA ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
