An Eagle Scout Project

[Dave Richards]

I thought I'd share a little volunteer project I'm working on. The son of a friend is working on his Eagle Scout project. It's quite a big deal for a 16 year old kid. He develops an idea, recruits people to assist, presents the project to a proponent and makes sure it gets finished.

This is my rendition of one of his ideas for some small garden boxes. The intent if they would be tended by local senior citizens so they are raised up to make it easier to work at. The boxes will be placed along a currently blank wall at a local clinic in his small town.




He was impressed at how easy SketchUp makes the process with Match Photo. He saw me take the photograph and then watched as I set it up in SketchUp and proceeded to draw his boxes.

 

[tri4sale]

Great idea, I saw similar at a retirement center a friend's father lived at.

One recommendation is to not install flush against the wall, there will be items you need access to from both sides, and you don't want elderly leaning too far over to grab something and losing their balance. Also the one's I saw had handles on it so that they could hold on with one hand while picking vegetables. Also, when installed flush against the wall, it provides a path for bugs from the ground to the building, bypassing most bug treatment methods which focus on the ground. Had a client wondering why they always had ants when they treated the house regularly. The pest inspector walked around house and found 2 places where the branches and leaves from plants touched the house, and you could see the active line of ants from the ground climbing tree and then into the house.

 

[Dave Richards]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pass them on. As for the reach, they won't be that deep front to back. This version is only 24 inches on the inside. The second version is 30 because the folks at the clinic don't want them to extend out beyond the existing landscape rock.

 

[Endless Pursuit]

Great idea, I saw similar at a retirement center a friend's father lived at.

One recommendation is to not install flush against the wall, there will be items you need access to from both sides, and you don't want elderly leaning too far over to grab something and losing their balance. Also the one's I saw had handles on it so that they could hold on with one hand while picking vegetables. Also, when installed flush against the wall, it provides a path for bugs from the ground to the building, bypassing most bug treatment methods which focus on the ground. Had a client wondering why they always had ants when they treated the house regularly. The pest inspector walked around house and found 2 places where the branches and leaves from plants touched the house, and you could see the active line of ants from the ground climbing tree and then into the house.

 

[Dave Richards]

Thanks Jeff. I expect he knows all that stuff already. If he doesn't remember, his dad will help. I just get to do the 3D visualizations for him.

 

[marinosr]

I have experience with building raised beds that are too deep... If those boxes are intended to be full-depth, that volume of soil is incredibly heavy (not to mention very expensive) and will likely pop out those corrugated panels. I built the same idea for my grandma so she wouldn't have to kneel over to garden, and the weight of the soil caused very substantial bulging and split some of the side wall boards. I ended up rebuilding it and overbuilding it with 2x8 walls, but if I had to do it again I think I'd whip up something like the link below that would use way less soil. You only need a good 10" or so for most all plants.


http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/high-mighty-raised-beds

 

[Dave Richards]

Richard, no worries. There are metal tubs to hold the soil inside. They are only 14 inches deep and there's a structure inside to support the tub. The corrugated panels are purely cosmetic and do not provide any support for the soil.

 

[marinosr]

Ah right on. I should have suspected that an Eagle Scout would have better forethought than me

 

[Dave Richards]

His dad and I are both over-engineers. I suggested that before we get too far with the appearance of the boxes we should consider the internal structure. We had him calculate how many yards of soil he'd need and the weight of it. We chose wet sand instead of dirt and vermiculite as a way to build in a safety factor. It's a small town. You never know if some old confused farmer might decide to drive his John Deere B into town and park it in the garden.

 

[Jeff]

Dave, an interesting project for an aspiring Eagle Scout. Here's a bit of heads up that he may want to consider in his design for senior/disabled citizens. While the planting boxes may be 24"-30" high they need an inner "box" that holds the soil 6"-8" deep with drainage. I kind of saw that in your pics but wasn't sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arvdAANh1To

 

[Dave Richards]

Jeff, the plan is to have 12 inches of soil and a couple of inches of gravel to keep the the soil from washing out the holes in the bottom. As I wrote above, the tubs are drawn at 14 inches deep to accommodate all that.