Happy first day of spring everyone! If you know me then you know about my love for gardening, what you may not know is that I am also an herbalist who loves plants. Every year I find myself acquiring more pots and planters for my ever-growing collection. The only issue with the planters and pots I’ve accumulated is that they are placed on my porch and sometimes are out of reach. Unfortunately, as a result they often remain unused and tend to break.
I usually focus my attention toward the plants growing on the windowsills within my porch, and tending to my kiddie-pool garden beds because they are more accessible. If you’ve never heard of these types of garden beds – they make for a great gardening hack that really works (if you’re able to bend over and crouch down).
I came up with a solution last year by getting four raised planters on wheels, they were around 3 feet by 1.5 feet (a bit small in my opinion). Despite the smaller size of the raised planters, I was able to grow some awesome herbs in them. Because of these issues, I spent about a year researching different kinds of raised planters and garden beds that would better suit my needs.
My next garden planter had to meet specific criteria I was looking for:
- Reach – I needed to be able to reach the garden bed while sitting in (or out of) my Quantum Rehab power chair. (I wanted to avoid my neighbors watching me potentially struggle to get back up into my chair.)
- Access – the second thing I need from a raised planter is the ability to access all sides of it, including the middle.
After I performed quite a bit of research I stumbled upon Oldcastle Planter Wall Blocks, these seemed to be the perfect fit for what I was looking for! The Oldcastle planter wall blocks are concrete bricks that have 4 slots in them. These bricks can stack, and the slots allow you to insert wooden planks to lock them into place, giving you the freedom to create your own custom-sized planter box.
As an herbalist with over 8 years of experience, having a garden filled with fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs is essential to me. While dried herbs are convenient, nothing compares when they are freshly picked from the garden!
Now as a disabled individual practicing herbalism, having a garden I can reach and tend to properly is a necessity. In my opinion, these bricks are genius, and I think the person who invented them deserves an award. While I will need quite a bit of help assembling everything, being able to have a planter that is accessible is going to be awesome.
