Raised Garden Boxes

Plans For A Raised Garden Box

Would you like to raise some flowers and/or grow some vegetables for your own consumption? Raised bed garden boxes will let you do that and it is great exercise. Each spring the soil must be worked up and planted. During the growing season the vegetables must be weeded and

thinned. If the weather is not cooperating the plants must be watered. The wilted flower heads must be picked off the plants (called deadheading) which is great exercise for fingers. A box does not take up much room if space is an issue. Prior to placing a box, the area under it must be prepared. This is not necessary if it will be placed on cement or any other solid surface. If placed on the ground you must assure good drainage.

The height of the box opening should be a few inches taller than the armrests of the wheelchair. The width of the growing area should be several inches less than twice the gardener’s arm length which will allow the covering of the entire planting area. Built from pressure treated lumber, the box is open on two sides so one can drive a wheelchair underneath it and work straight on. 

The first year my boxes presented some unique problems because of the construction.  The 2” by 8” which made up the planting area did not allow for the soil to be deep enough for vegetables so most of the vegetables planted did not grow very well.  The following year, as you can see from the picture, we added about 3 inches to the height of the planting area.  This allowed adding another 250 pounds of soil to the bed.  Also, in an effort to cut down on moisture evaporation we added Hydro-Sorb to the soil. Hydro-Sorb retains water and releases it a little at a time.  These two changes made the boxes much more successful. We did not find it necessary to increase the depth of the flower boxes.               

I have 6 boxes, four I plant with vegetables and the other two with annual flowers. I enjoy working these boxes very much. I use adaptive garden tools which can be purchased online. The vegetable boxes can grow salt potatoes, broccoli, onions, baby carrots, beets and garlic. Gardening is good for many different reasons. Check out the video   Raised Bed Gardening

Raised Fower Box In Bloom

Working A Raised Garden Box

Button Board

Surf The Web Using Your Mouse

This morning when I open my e-mail I found the most interesting letter.  Dominic Valentino  wrote me about a website he constructed called Button Board buttonboard.com , which allows an individual to surf the web using just the mouse. He built the website for his own personal use but was wondering if it would be helpful to other people who have limited range of motion or other problems. I tried the website and it works great. It amazes me the technological skills that some people have.

There are two other commercially available products which may make your computer more user friendly. The first is the UBS Haspel 4 Port Web Hub which connects to a UBS port in the back of your computer. A 3 foot long cord on a reel allows you to place the plug in device anywhere you want it. There are four UBS ports located around a  4” circular hub. If your dexterity is limited when you go to connect something like a scan disk at least one port is usually facing the right way. The cost at Radio Shack is less than $10. The second, also available at Radio Shack, is a Logitech Trackman Marble (Computer Mouse) The mouse ball is on the top as opposed to the bottom. The entire device stays in one place and you just manipulate the ball. It can be setup for right or left-handed people. You can choose what function you want the easily accessible button to perform. Also it enables you to control the speed of the cursor. I encourage you to try the Button Board website and forward it on to anybody you believe would find it useful. Please if you have created something like Dominic which would be useful to others contact us.

Two User Friendly Products

                                              

Quad Mitts

  I read Kelly Rouba latest blog with great interest. I have been trying to encourage people to think outside the box and telling them that there is more than one way to solve a problem. After looking at the “gloves” Kelly’s friend made for her it just demonstrates what I have been encourage others to do. She found an inexpensive way to solve the challenge confronting her. I was faced with a similar situation and came up with a slightly different solution. My problem was trying to keep my hands warm when I was outside.  My fingers are always clenched in a loose fist position.  It was very difficult for my wife or nurse to put regular gloves on my hands.  It quickly became evident that mittens would work best.  Unfortunately, mittens created problems of their own.  It was impossible to keep my thumb in the thumb of the mitten.  The major problem with mittens however, was that once I took them off I was unable to get them back on by myself.  So I designed what I like to call Quad Mitts. They have an opening at each end with the front one tighter. I was able to get my wife’s friend to knit a trial pair and they worked extremely well.  The picture below shows the pattern that we used.  Note that the cuff is extra long and can be folded over what I am wearing so I don’t have to worry about them coming off. When I need to use my bare hand I just push it though the hole in the front end and then pull the end back over my hand when I am finished. I am a big man so you may need to adjust the measurements according to your own size. If you know someone who will knit for you maybe you want to think about a pair of sleeves (my arms are always cold) and/or leg warmers. Often in the morning I will have my nurse put my sleeves on with a tee-shirt and then I will take them off when the day warms up.

Test Time

I thought it would be a good time to write about depression because I am really depressed today. The psychologist at Craig Hospital, where I did my rehabilitation, said depression/self-pity was an okay place to visit but a bad place to set up residence. My wife and I had a heated argument yesterday, very unusual for us. She accused me of lying to her about the availability of the money to finance our new van. She even went so far as to tell our son, a 39 year old civil engineer, I lied to her which pushed me off the deep end. Prior to my injury I got vigorous physical exercise every day which took care of most of my frustrations. I do not have that luxury anymore. I did smash my hand into the computer keyboard until she moved it. That felt good, until today. In all fairness to my wife she has been under a lot of pressure lately. One of her sisters was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and another with Alzheimer’s, plus she has some health issues of her own.  She is on edge and rightfully so.

What I’m really interested in, however, is me and my reactions. When I get depressed I begin to question my quality of life. I tell myself living in this chair is not quality of life. I live about 20 miles from the Canadian border and we have long, cold and snowy winters. As a result, I do not get to go outside and poke around like I can in the warmed weather.  Cabin fever is also a player.  I ask myself is this any way to live?  Then I start thinking about suicide and how I would do it. Most commonly I think about overdosing on my meds, hanging myself on my track lift (poetic justice) or some other gruesome way of solving my frustrations. I stare out the window, turn silent, refuse to eat or drink and occupy my time with some mundane task. The last 12 years of teaching I taught high school students who had emotional and behavioral problems. My behavior is classic passive aggressive.

Wikipedia states “Passive–aggressive behavior (negativistic personality trait) is passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations. It is a  personality trait  marked by a pervasive pattern of negative attitudes and passive, usually disavow resistance in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate/repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible. It is a defense mechanism,  and usually only partly conscious.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive%E2%80%93aggressive_behavior#Diagnostic_criteria_.28DSM-IV_Appendix_B.29ed

After I’ve wallowed in this self-pity for awhile I begin to think about the consequences of my hypothetical actions. How would my children react, my grandchildren, my great grand children, the students I taught and the people who went out of their way to reach out to us after the accident? I have chosen to present myself as an example of how people can deal with the challenges they face.  I have spoken in many schools about the inner strength which lies in each and every one of us. What would they think if I did something so stupid?

After staring out the window for a long time my eyes will begin to focus on the view. Things are so beautiful where I live even in the winter.  Why would anybody intentionally leave this beautiful place? I spent months struggling to recover from my accident. I fought to live, I wanted to live, I want to live and I do have quality of life most of the time. Being in this chair, having to have someone assist me in the morning and help me get dressed is a small price to pay for being alive. What good is feeling sorry for myself going to do for me? I remind myself everyone has good days and bad days. I listen to REM’s Everybody Hurts (click on the link below) and remind myself that it is normal for anyone to have down days.  As the psychologist at Craig said it is okay to visit but no place to establish permanent residence. Don’t you agree?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2N_uvnvGbI