Wheelchair Gardening Time Savers

This is another in a collection of articles in which I will present ideas I have implemented that improved my quality of life. The first article was on Raised Bed Gardening, the second, related to the first, was focused on using Drip Irrigation in my vegetable garden. This is the third and final article on my garden and presents four different ideas that have made gardening easier for me.

Once I have planted all of the vegetables I put down a sheet of black plastic cutting holes out of it where the plants are. This way all of the soil in the garden is covered with plastic except for around the plants. This sheeting has numerous benefits: It holds the heat in the soil and maintains a more constant temperature. More importantly, it prevents weeds from growing in the open areas, significantly reducing garden maintenance.

Once I have put down the plastic sheeting I add organic mulch around the base of each plant. I normally use a bark product called “Soil Pep Soil Conditioner”, which has already been decomposed and does not use nitrogen. The picture below shows both the plastic sheeting and the mulch.

Similar to the plastic sheeting, the organic mulch also keeps the soil temperature warmer and more consistent and suppresses weeds. It has the added advantages of helping to maintain constant moisture content around the root zone and adds organic matter to the soil.

The first few years I staked my tomato plants, but had several problems with that technique. It was difficult for me to tie the plants to the stakes from my wheelchair so I required constant assistance as the plants grew. Also, when the plants got taller they would occasional blow over in heavy wind.

So I switched to the larger cone-shaped wire cages that are sold at most home centers. These were an improvement since no tying was required. However, they were even less stable than the stakes and would blow over regularly once the plants got taller.

Finally, a couple of years ago I “bit the bullet” and decided to make my own heavy duty tomato cages. They have worked great and if you enjoy growing tomatoes I would encourage you to invest the time, money and effort to build them. You can see the homemade cages in the above photo.

The cages are constructed of welded wire mesh or remesh, found at some home centers. This mesh is used for concrete reinforcement; it is 5 foot wide with 6” x 6” squares and is usually 50 or 100 feet long. Since I knew I was going to be doing a lot of cutting I also purchased an inexpensive bolt cutter at Home Depot (Model 9001H) for $15, which worked great for cutting the remesh.

I made my cages about 24” in diameter, so each cage took 6 feet of the mesh or 12 squares. I would count off 12 squares, and then cut in the middle of the 13^th square. Next I would roll the mesh into a cylinder and use the pieces of mesh sticking out both ends to hook the cylinder together. See picture below, the blue arrow points to one of the hooks:

Finally, I cut the ring of wire off of the bottom of the cage so that numerous wires stuck out. I push those into the ground when placing the cage around the plant (See the picture below where I have lifted a portion of the cage).

As the plants grow you will occasionally need to redirect a tomato branch that is sticking through the mesh back into the cage. These homemade cages have worked great for me.

My garden is a fair piece from my garage so several years ago my wife bought me a small shed for the storage of my garden tools. This saves me the time and effort of lugging tools back and forth every time I need them. The shed, seen below, is made by Rubbermaid. It has shelves for things like hand tools, gloves, and pots but is tall enough for rakes and shovels. Having this storage right next to the garden has really been convenient.

I hope you can implement one or more of the ideas presented in this three-part series in your vegetable garden. They made gardening much easier for me, and as a result, significantly increase the enjoyment I receive from this hobby. I would love to hear from you any ideas you have implemented in your garden.