Something Borrowed, Something New

Another addition to our garden includes a table-top style raised bed that was constructed after viewing a similar bed at Franklin Conservatory. It can be seen on the right in the photograph below, after the jump. This construction is perfect for those who don’t have the knees to garden like they might have used to, but still have the desire to make the most of their green thumb.


The taller tabletop variety allows a gardener to handle these patio style tomatoes, squash, and bush beans without causing too much stress on backs or knees. This style of bed also offers a gardening possibility for those in wheelchairs. Legs and wheels can slide underneath the table and offer some gardening experience where it was not possible before. The height of the table legs could be adjusted to fit the needs of your friends and family members, feel free to ask one of our staff how to do it. It also keeps those rascally rabbits from picking all of your beans before you can get to them!

On the left side of this photograph you can see yet another development in the Demo Garden for 2012 and that is the addition of our potato garden. We are attempting to build a straw tower in order to maximize yield of potatoes for the season. Using this tower strategy the goal is to develop multiple harvest levels so that we can produce as many tubers as possible from a marginal amount of space. The tubers grow amidst the straw while the roots dig deeper and deeper into the soil underneath. This is somewhat of an experiment for the staff here at RTCO so we are looking forward to seeing how fruitful the yield is.