Garden Boxes

By Regina Price

When I went back to our acreage home after staying in the University Hospital for one month and then Glenrose Hospital for two months, I indicated to my husband ( I lost my speech) that having boxes in our first acreage garden would help me with gardening -- without putting my knees on the ground and straining my back every day. As a psychologist -- before my aneurysm — I knew that gardening would help me heal (as it would by eating organic vegetables from our garden).



So, he decided to build 6 boxes about 2 feet tall, 8 feet long,4 feet wide. He nailed on a 2x4 on the top for me to sit on when I am weeding and picking or cleaning up that box. Then we put them into the garden area 6 inches deep and put into good black dirt to fill them 6inches from the top.

After this, gardening was less painful and more enjoyable than putting all the dirt in the boxes. I planted the seeds in the end of April to the middle of May. We have some water containers or barrels which catch the rainwater from the roof and I need to put the water on each box when they need it. By the June, we are eating lettuce, mustard greens, spinach and later by August, we are eating peas, beans, carrots, kale, zucchini, etc.

Every year, I am glad that I am gardening and eating what we grow. It helps me give my relatives garden produce, including my Mom who is 88, and my daughter and her family. It helps me appreciate our lives and how helpful we can be without having a job.