Are You a Social Entrepreneur

 

Social enterprises are revenue-generating businesses that operate with a different bottom line from traditional businesses. A social enterprise may be registered as a not-for-profit or a for-profit business.

However, unlike other business models it has a double bottom line. One is, of course, to make a profit. The other is to generate cultural, social, community economic development or environmental outcomes. Some social enterprise may combine several of these outcomes.

I suggest the most effective business model for the social enterprise is a cooperative. A co-operative is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically.

The cooperative business structure lays the foundation for the development of a social enterprise, regardless of the product or service the company is offering. I will use as an example, the cooperative I helped found, the Inspire Cooperative.

The Inspire Cooperative was formed as a worked owned and operated cooperative. The intent was to create an organization that could generate income while operating with a triple bottom line. The triple bottom line is the three Ps people, planet, and profit.

The Inspire Coop provide a range of educational experiences while working with a variety of community partners. The members choose the cooperative business model because it embraces the democratic principles of inclusion, diversity, and cooperation.

The first Coop venture was the Campbellton Community Garden. The Campbellton Community garden was started by the Restigouche Community Inclusion Network. The Garden provides residents of Campbellton, from all walks of life, the opportunity to grow their own food. The Garden also offers free workshops. Gardeners can only use organic products to tend their plots.

In 2016, the Coop became an active partner in the Garden with the goal of taking over the operation in 2017. Since becoming a partner the Coop has started a new program. “Growing Livelihoods in the Garden”. Two of the 40 garden plots will be dedicated to teaching youth how to plant, care for, harvest and market vegetables at our local Sunday market. All funds generated by the community garden are set aside for the Garden's needs.

The Coop's second project is the Campbellton Sunday Market. The Market has created one part-time job (15 hours per week for six months) and offers local artisans, crafters and primary and secondary food producers a location where they can sell their wares. The Sunday Market focus is on developing a strong and resilient regional economy.

If you are an entrepreneur with a good product or service idea and have a cause you believe in then take a close look at setting up a social enterprise.

If you are worried that while you have a great product but lack all the skills needed to start and operate a business then take a close look at the cooperative business model.

Onions: Grow Them, Enjoy Them

Onions are versatile. May be used in sandwiches, soups, stews or simply to add flavour to a wide variety of foods. What can be better than cheese and onions together in an omelette or as a grilled cheese sandwich or just plain on a Kaiser? I enjoy a thin slice of Spanish onion with an aged cheddar cheese on whole wheat bread or a bagel.

Know your onions. There are two types of onions, summer onions and winter onions. Summer onions are fresh onions that come in yellow red and white and have a fairly thin skin.

These are the sweet onions, suited to salads and sandwiches. It is their high-water content that makes them sweet.

The winter onions also come in red, yellow and white but have several layers of thick and dark skin. These onions are ideal for storage and what you want on those cold winter nights when you want to add some zest to a stew or soup.

Approximately, 87 percent of the onions that are commercially grown are yellow; white account for five percent and red eight.

Yellow onions are very versatile and are used for just about all types of cooking and are what make French Onion soup so tasty.

The reds are great in salads and sandwiches but can also be delightful when tossed on a grill as part of a kebab for example.

While onions are identified with Mexican cooking, although I have to admit there have been times when a white onion was all that I had and it ended up in my cheese sandwich.

Now if you want fresh onions for your cooking needs then grow your own. You can grow them for both immediate uses and for storage so that you do not run out of these culinary delights during those harsh and sometimes way too long winter weeks.

Growing Onions: Planting Onion sets

Ph:

Onions, pickled 3.70 - 4.60

Onions, red 5.30 - 5.80

Onion white 5.37 - 5.85

Onions, yellow 5.32 - 5.60

The most effective way to grow onions is to plant onion sets. An onion set is a small bulb, to 1 inch in diameter. Onion sets are produced under conditions that rapidly produce a small bulb which, when planted, will grow a larger bulb. You can buy onion sets at the local plant centre.

Onions can handle some frost and, in general, do not mind the cool and wet weather of spring. They prefer soil that is rich and drains well.

You can plant onion sets from two to four weeks before the last frost. Buy bulbs that are less than ¾ inches (19 mm) in diameter.

Space the onion sets approximately 4-6" (10-15 cm) apart, depending on the size of the mature bulb. Make sure that you gently press the bulbs into the soil about an inch (2.5 cm) deep and make sure to plant them so that their pointed tips just break the surface.

Happy Growing

 

Attachments area

An Intro to Perennial Vegetables

 

If you are looking to reduce labour and increase your personal food security, take a close look at perennial vegetables. Rhubarb is a well known perennial food source.  However, it is far from the only one that will thrive in our environment.

Adding one or two of these perennial plants can increase your family’s food security. It is difficult to say what the future weather will be like, so, it is best to be prepared and to embrace diversity in the home garden.

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) also known as the sunchoke is native to eastern North America.

The plant was given the name Jerusalem because it is allegedly connected to the Italian word girasola, which means sunflower.   This plant does have attractive yellow flowers. The root is the edible part and the principle reason for adding this plant to the vegetable garden.

The tuber of the sunchoke can be used like potatoes. This plant is a prolific breeder so the grower can anticipate a good yield. However, this plants is prolific and can take over a garden.  It may be best to grow sunchokes in large containers in order to keep them under control.

Please do not ignore this advice, sunchokes will overrun a garden if not controlled from the beginning. What started as a plant o increase personal food security could end up in a garden disaster?

I am considering adding three plants to my community garden box as a test.

You may want to control the amount of the sunchokes you consume, at any one setting, as it is possible a severe gas condition will develop. Others say the nutty flavour is tasty but the sunchoke is not a potato substitute. Which is fine grow them for their own food value and, if desired grow potatoes. Potatoes give you a good food value for your investment.

Remember the intent is to diversify the garden and to add plants that need little care and are perennial, not to replace favourite foods.

Sunchoke tubers should be planted about twelve to eighteen inches apart, about four inches deep. Any part of the tuber with an eye on it can produce a new plant. Harvest the tubers yearly being sure to leave a few in the ground so they will grow the following year.

If you prefer hill the tubers the same as you would potatoes. This is said to increase the yield. Some say it is better to harvest the tubers after the first frost as the taste is better, experiment and decide for yourself when the best harvest time is.

If the sunchoke does not appeal to you, there are a number of other perennial vegetables that might. To find them do an Internet search, or take a trip to the public library.

Composting: What & How

 

Feed the soil: feed the plants. This an organic gardener knows is one of the ways to ensure a healthy, vital and productive garden.

The organic or natural gardener does not tend the plants but takes care of the soil. Follow this advice and you will find that whatever you choose to grow, be it herbs, flowers or vegetables you will produce plants that can withstand the onslaught of pests and disease.

Healthy soil means healthy plants.

How do you keep your soil healthy, well, one of the easiest ways is to add organic material to it on a regular basis. Now you can go out and buy compost, I recommend organic or you can purchase well rotted manure and if this is what you must do then that is fine.

When you are starting out to build a garden, you may have to buy compost. It is worth the money.

Another way to get great organic material for your garden is to compost those food scrapes, not bone or meat, but vegetables. You can add grass clippings to the mix and let that help. However, with grass clippings I suggest you leave the bulk of the clippings where they fall when you cut the lawn.

This will help your lawn.

Composting is an excellent way to recycle material that will benefit your garden but simply take up space in a landfill, especially when placed into a plastic bag which will take a very long time to breakdown.

A perfect mixture of material consists of ½ brown (carbon-based material) and ½ green (nitrogen-based) materials by weight.

You can build or buy a composter; the choice is up to you. I built a composter from a rubber garbage can for use on my balcony. The balcony was located right off the kitchen so this was very easy to use and my container garden was right on the balcony so putting the compost to work required very few steps.

The composter produced more than I needed for the containers and lugging it downstairs and around back was more steps than I needed to take.

Next time, if faced with a similar situation, I would place a worm composter in the kitchen for the balcony garden and a larger one in the backyard for that garden; thereby reducing the steps that I would need to take. Saving energy for other activities is a wise choice.

If you do not have room outside for a composter but still want to recycle to turn your kitchen waste into gold, well black gold, as compost is called, you can set up a worm composter in your kitchen. You can use the end product on your houseplants, containers plants or in the garden.

Composting is how you can complete the growing cycle. You put compost on your vegetable garden to help the plants grow; you harvest the plants for your meals and then put the scarps in the compost which you then put on your garden to help the plants grow.

This closed circuit approach reduces waste and produces healthy food for you and your family.

What can you compost? The following information provides you with a list of items that can go into your compost pile.

From Your Garden:

Leaves (chopped - to speed their breakdown)

Grass (not wet)

Plants & Weeds (without ripe seeds)

Old potting soil

Soft plant stems

From Your Kitchen.

Coffee grounds and filters

Fruit scraps

Vegetable trimmings

Crushed egg shells

Tea bags

Shredded paper

The following items should not be placed into the compost:

Dairy products including cheese

Meat, fish (including sauces) and bones

Plastics

Metals

Fats and oils

Pet waste

Remember that a successful gardener builds soil and compost enables you to do that work.

Container Gardens

 

Where there is a will there is a way and gardeners are among those who lend the truth to this old adage.

If you want to grow something, anything, be it fruit, flowers, herbs or vegetables and have even the smallest space you can do so. It is all a matter of determination, knowledge and design.

A single pot of geraniums on the stairs leading up to your apartment, a community garden plot, a backyard, side yard or front yard garden; containers on balconies, decks and patios; all are ways people express their desire to grow plants.

Ingenuity will see you through.

Your first step is to get to know the space where you garden will be; in particular, how much natural sunlight does it get none, all day or somewhere in-between? Once you know that you can start to develop a plant list selecting plants that thrive in the amount of sunlight that yoru have available.

Now how big is that space; room for one container or can you set up a small backyard market garden?

Garden design is one of the places where it pays to be honest with yourself. You may have space to grow enough food for a family of four but are you actually going to invest the time that is required to do this or is a small kitchen herb or cutflower garden more stable for yoru lifestyle?

If you have a small space and that is our focus here, then the process is easier, similar but also simpler? How much light does the space get; how big is it and once you know the answer to those two questions, what do you want to grow?

Containers are a highly effective means to grow your favourite plants in very tiny spaces. Fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, cutflowers and many, many vegetables will do well in a container. The main rules are make sure the container is big enough for the plant tog row and be sure that there is drainage so the plants roots do not get overly wet and rot.

Be sure to place something under the container that will catch any runoff; this may be particularly important on balconies and stairs where there are other people living below you.

Anything can be a container; anything that can hold soil and some water that is. I have used a pair of old work boots to grow Johnny-jump-ups and put them out on my balcony. They brought more than a few favourable comments and drew peoples’ attention to what else was growing there.

Visits to garage sales and flea markets can uncover some intriguing containers that may add a distinctive design touch. Make sure to match the container to the surrounding elements.

My favourite small space, single container garden consists of one Camp Joy Cherry tomato plants plus two basil plants. The Camp Joy is a heritage plant and a good producer. Tomatoes and basil are natural companions both growing in the same container or cooking in the same dish.

This combo is ideal for deck or patio and is be perfect on a backyard patio just near the kitchen door so the plants are right at hand when needed; as long as that spot get 6 hours of sunlight each day, they will provide you will tomatoes and basil to add fresh flavour to your meals.

African Violets

 African violets have an honoured place in my memory, I can’t remember my parents home without at least one brightening up a windowsill or plant stand. The same goes for my aunts’ homes and in later years mine and my sister’s.

African violets are members of the Gesneriad family.

The African violet is relatively easy to care for and will reward your attentions with many years’ of beauty. The African violet (Saintpaulia species) may well be one of the most popular houseplant and one that grows and flowers under light conditions found in the average home or under artificial light. Many different varieties, types, and flower colors exist.

When placing your African violent avoid direct sunlight. The appearance of a plant will indicate whether light levels are too high, too low or just right. If light is too low, leaves are usually thin and deep green, and appear to reach up for light. The plants may grow, but will flower poorly or not at all. In such instances, supplemental artificial light will help promote flowering.

Some suggest that the African violet should be repotted every two years, and only when the plant looks really overcrowded. It is also best to use shallow pots, and try to maintain the overall rosette of leaves by removing leaves pointing towards the centre of the plant whenever necessary. The accompanying video will take you through the replanting process.

It is important that the potting soil is well drained. You can use a soil mix that contains

- one part soil,

- two parts peat moss and

- one part perlite or vermiculite or coarse sand.

The African violet’s roots are tender and juicy and have difficulty pushing through heavy soil

You will find happily that generally speaking insects are not a problem. If you find mealy bugs you can dab them with alcohol. For thrips or cyclamen mites you may want to take a deep breath and chuck the plant.

A firm spray with tepid tap water will help with white flies but eb sure to dry the leaves after. If you discover botrytis or powdery mildew you will pick off and destroy the diseased parts.

You can propagate your African violet either by suckers that are removed from the mother plant or, my favourite, by leaf cuttings.

You insert both suckers and leaves into moistened vermiculite. Be sure to check, now and then, to see if roots have developed from rootless suckers or watch for new leaves emerging from leaf cuttings.

Use two inch pots and time your activities for spring or summer when the hours of sunlight are longer.

Weeds for Lunch?

 

Weeds, if they were called by any other name would they still annoy us to such a degree. The topic of weeds and weed control can touch off a frenzy of discussion when gardeners gather.

Some gardeners have little to no problem with weeds as they either use them to attract beneficial insects to their garden, eat them, for example, lambs quarters have serious food potential, or they read them and realize that the existence of weeds is telling us something about our garden; usually about the condition of the soil.

When we get the message we can take the proper steps to eliminate the problem and watch the weeds disappear.

Others mulch and mulch heavily thus reducing the space that weeds can claim.

Nature does not like bare patches of soil and the plants that we call weeds are nothing if not opportunistic, they will quickly move in where others fear to grow.

Weeds are hardy pioneers that are often the first plant life to appear on an abandoned site. So if you do not want the weeds to move in then do not leave patches of soil available to them because if you leave it they will come.

In addition to mulching, you can avoid digging all together; often when we turn over the soil to create a new garden bed what we do is free the weed seeds that have been lying in wait for the opportunity to grow to spring forth.

Resist the temptation to dig and deny them that opportunity. No-till gardening plus mulching will reduce your weed concerns.

Like many activities how you approach your garden depends to a considerable extent upon your attitude towards the garden; towards Nature and towards weeds.

When I am giving a garden talk or starting a workshop and feel the need to gain some insight into the people who are there; I ask one question; when you hear the word dandelion what is your first reaction?

If they gasp and say weed or worse then I know that I have my work cut out for me; if they say healthy, salads, wine or tea substitute than I have a very different crowd.

The dandelion, the bane of many suburban lawn and gardeners, is probably one of the most versatile and useful plants that grow so freely in our yards and just about anywhere it can get some sun and put down roots.

I am not suggesting that you deliberately grow it, although you can buy seeds, if you wish, but I do feel that you can learn to love it and try some of the recipes, like dandelion fritters.

I find the dandelion to be quite a beautiful plant that contrasts brilliantly with green lawns; if you pick the heads before they go to seed and deep fry them in batter, for example, you won’t be spreading them around the neighbourhood.

In fact you could invite the neighbours over for dandelion tea and fritters and maybe just change their minds.

Once again, if you do not leave space for weeds to garb hold in your garden and do not set free the seeds already hiding in the soil, you are well on your way to reducing your weed worries.

Share The Surplus

 Our gardens provide us with more than just food and flowers. They give us an opportunity to experience and renew our connection with nature as we weed, harvest and walk among the plants.

They can provide us with exercise and a hobby that helps keep our minds and bodies sharp.

As a permaculture designer, I do my best to shape my life according to the three basic ethics of permaculture design.

Three Ethics

1- care for the earth

2- care for people

3- Take responsibility for my own production and share the surplus.

It is through the third that I am able to achieve the other two. There are many ways to share the surplus and do good work in your community at the same time.

You can, when you go shopping for groceries, and there is a sale on canned or dry goods, (beans, pasta) buy a few extra and set them aside for the local food bank or meal program.

I suggest that if you are planning to do this you call the organization that you have in mind and ask them what they need. This way you can help them meet an urgent need and share at the same time. You could also consider making a financial donation or volunteering your time. Both cover the sharing the surplus concept.

If you are a gardener, you could donate some of your produce to the local food bank or meal program. Again, I suggest contacting them first and find out what they would like.

When I worked at a food bank, we got a lot of zucchini and rhubarb which was fine because it is fresh food that the clients may not buy. We always included a recipe or two when we gave the produce out so that those who did not know what to do with it would have the recipe to guide them.

If you want to take this sharing your garden surplus to another level you can grow a row for the local food bank. Simply set aside one of the rows in your garden and all that grows in that row is donated to the food bank.

You may want to check and see if there is an organized grow-a-row program in your community and contact them if there is.

If there is no organized program, you may want to share the idea with a few of your neighbours and ask them to share it with theirs. This way you can increase the sharing and the amount of food that will be donated.

If you are a member of a community garden, you may want to set aside a row in your plot for grow-a-row or suggest to the other gardeners that together you set aside a plot that is meant for the food bank. You could contact the food bank and let them know that you are doing this and ask them if there are foods that they would prefer.

Salad greens, the come-an-cut-again food, can provide people with a healthy and tasty donation that some people may not be able to buy for themselves.

There are a number of ways that your garden or your ability to garden can enable you to share the surplus. Try it and see what happens.

 What you choose to plant in the garden matters. Your garden is an ecosystem Each change you make to the garden has an impact,. When you add or remove plants you impact all the other beings that rely on your garden for food and shelter.

Ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that take place within them.

Pollination:

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is a must if the flower is to be fertilized.

Fertilization is necessary if the plant’s flower is to produce seeds and seeds are needed to produce more plants.

The honey bee is not a native to North America and our growing dependence upon the honey bee to provide pollination services as lead to our forgetting the native bees that are able to perform this function and in some cases even better than the honey bee.

Now, one way that the gardener can attract native bees such as the bumblebee or mason bee is to create a garden that appeals to them.

This is a fundamental principle for attracting any type of wildlife whether it is, bee or butterfly the garden will design a garden that meets the needs of the beings and they will move in.

 Feed the soil is the organic gardener’s mantra. One of the most effective ways to feed that soil is to add organic material, such as compost to the garden. Another is to add compost tea.

Compost tea is relatively easy to make; you simply put a shovelful of compost into a burlap bag or apiece of cheese cloth and tie the bag closed: then suspend that bag into a container of water for a few days.

I suggest you keep this covered as the odour will become quite strong.

After the tea has steeped you can use the liquid or tea to water the soil at the base of the plants you wish to fertilize.

You can also use compost tea as a foliar spray that is spray it directly onto the plant’s leaves. First, dilute to tea until it is the colour of a weak tea.

The nutrients from the compost have dissolved into the water and the plants will be able to take them up quickly.

The tea bag is reusable for three or four pots of compost tea. When done toss the tea bag into your compost pile.

Plants must have 16 different chemical elements to thrive; these are divided into two categories, macronutrients and micronutrients also known as trace minerals. Each element performs a different function.

Fertilizers are used to enrich the soil and replace missing elements. A fertilizer is a material containing significant amounts of the chemical elements that plants need to grow; such as potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. Examples of organic fertilizers are greensand, bat guano, cottonseed meal, fish emulsion, manure, and blood meal.

Blood meal is a powerful source of nitrogen and must be applied properly or it will burn your plants. Follow the directions on the label. Blood meal is dried blood usually collected from slaughterhouses and may not be acceptable to vegetarians or vegans.

Greensand is mined from deposits of minerals once part of the ocean floor. It is approximately 3% total potash, along with iron, magnesium, silica and as many as 30 other trace minerals. There may be some ecological concerns here.

Cottonseed meal is a by-product of cotton manufacturing. Cottonseed will produce a slight acidic reaction; consequently, so is usually used for fertilizing acid-loving plants such as azaleas, camellias, and rhododendrons.

Manure has been used as a fertilizer for generations, be sure that any manure you but has been well composted before you apply it your garden. I have used chicken manure and horse manure that was well aged with some impressive results.

I personally like seaweed but then I live near enough to the coast to be able to get it but it does work wonders.

Fish emulsion is a balanced, organic fertilizer; however, it is a partially decomposed blend of finely pulverized fish so again vegans and vegetarians may not wish to use it.

Whatever your choice is, the proper use of an organic fertilizer and the occasional use of a compost tea will give your garden the elements it needs to produce beautiful flowers and healthy and hearty vegetables.

Up On The Roof

 There are always options.

If you can’t grow in the ground, use containers or raised beds, if you have limited space think vertical.

One area that is often overlooked when planning a garden is the roof top.

Now your house may not have a roof that suits a garden; it may be too slanted or does not have easy access for regular gardening chores.

It is important to make the distinction between a rooftop garden and a green roof, while there are some similarities, they generally serve different purposes.

Green Roofs:

Green roofs are a roof that allows plants, trees and shrubs to grow in a specially designed light-weight growing medium.

The three main types of green roof systems are:

• complete systems where all the different components including roof membrane are an integral part of the whole system
• modular systems that are positioned above the existing roofing system
• pre-cultivated vegetation blankets that consist of growing medium and plants that are rolled onto the existing roofing system with drainage mats and root barriers as required

RoofTop Gardens

The rooftop garden is simply a garden, usually in containers, that is located on a rooftop. The rooftop may be a house, an office building, a garage, shed or any other structure that has a suitable surface and is strong enough to take the extra weight.

BE sure that the roof you choose can handle the extra weight, or you may get a major surprise. You may need to consult with a structural engineer before proceeding, remember that in addition to the garden, there will be at least one person adding to the overall weight.

If you are ready to proceed in the design of a roof top garden the process that you are beginning is similar to combining interior decorating with landscape design.

Step One:

What is the purpose of the space? If you are looking to grow a container or two of herbs and vegetables that is one thing; if you are planning a community garden that is another.

Or, are you designing an outdoor space for relaxation and entertaining that incorporates flowers, shrubs and trees into the design?

It is possible to set up an orchard on the roof as long as the containers you use are big enough.

Step Two:

You know the space’s purpose; now what do you want to grow?

Step Three:

How much time do you want to devote to gardening? If your time is limited you may want to keep the garden element of the design small, you can always add later, enough so that you can give the plants the attention they deserve.

Be sure to make notes as you go; you will want to refer to them as you proceed.

What you do next will depend upon the answers to the questions raised in the first three steps. If you are adding an outdoor room to your home then you need to think about furniture, for example; if you are growing food, then all that is left to do is decide what food you want to grow.

Some considerations, the weather conditions on a roof top, much like a balcony, will be different than those at ground level, there may be little to no shade so it will be hot and the winds will be stronger.

The combination of heat and strong winds means that the soil will dry faster than it will in the garden and therefore, the plants will need watering more frequently.

This brings us to another point, water overflow; containers can be designed to catch excess water so that it does not puddle on the roof, making for slippery conditions and added weight. I suggest you hand water your roof top garden so that you get sued to the plants’ needs and thus avoid excessive watering.

Link

Edible Flowers

 Six Common Edible Flowers: 

1-Bee balm- The red flowers have a minty flavor. The bee balm also attract bees to the garden so is an excellent choice as a garden helper.

2-Borage- Blossoms are a lovely blue hue and taste like cucumber. They grow well and you may want to place them in a container to keep them from spreading too far.

3- Calendula - A great flower for eating, calendula blossoms are peppery, tangy, and spicy, and their vibrant golden colour adds zest to any dish.

4-Johnny Jump-Up-  Attractive and delicious, the flowers have a subtle mint flavor, great for salads, pastas, fruit dishes and drinks.

5- Nasturtiums-  This well-known annual has a surprising peppery taste. The young leaves, flowers and buds are all edible. They are said to contain high amounts of Vitamins A and C.

6- Violets Another famous edible flower, violets are floral, sweet and beautiful as garnishes. Use the flowers in salads and to garnish desserts and drinks. In addition, the violet is New Brunswick provincial flower.

This year add both colour and substance to the food garden. The edible flowers will lend colour and attract pollinators. They will also diversify the menu and bring extra value to the meal. Edible flowers are inexpensive and will give back much more than they cost

Gardening with Osteoarthritis

 

I love to garden. Anything that prevents me from doing so would be most unwelcome.  There are many benefits to be gained from the garden, above and beyond growing your own food. Gardening gets me outside to enjoy the wind and sun.  In addition, working in the garden exercises the mind, body and spirit.

However, if you have a bad back or knee problems for example, garden related activities can be painful, no fun at all.

I have osteoarthritis in both knees. This makes standing up difficult and kneeling down impossible. However, I can continue to enjoy the multi-benefits having a garden brings by using raised beds. There are many ways to raise the garden up.

A garden does not have to be a patch of earth on the ground set aside for the specific purpose of growing plants. A garden can be a series, or even one container, placed upon a table or a bench high enough so a chair can slide in and out under that table. Keep the length and width of the table to dimensions that allow the gardener to reach across it from any side.

If you are a do-it-yourself person build your own raised beds. using wood, bricks, concrete blocks, rubber tires, or compost and earth piled up above the ground.

If you have little time, then, buy some organic soil, cut a slit into the bag and plant right into this, if you want it higher, put it on a table or bench.

One of the advantages to using a raised bed, besides the ease of gardening, is that the soil in the raised bed will warm up faster in the spring so you can get an early start. Another advantage to a raised bed is you can build a seat or two along the edge of the bed so that the gardener can sit down while planting, weeding or harvesting.

The ease of access means that the various gardening chores, such as planting, weeding, deadheading, watering and perhaps the most fun, harvesting require less effort.

A major expense, depending upon the size of the garden, will be soil. The plants need healthy soil and this may need to be bought, the first year.

The raised bed will need to be placed where the plants you choose get that light they need. A second location consideration is putting the bed as close as possible to the water source should the rain be insufficient to meet the plants’ needs.

It is also a good idea to keep the bed as close to the house as possible, in order to cut down on the number of steps needed to reach it.

If you are putting in a new garden take a close look at the raised bed garden, you may just appreciate the advantages. Next week we will begin to look at the best vegetable to plant. The ones that provide the most nutrients in return for the work done. Planting season is coming, be patient and happy gardening.