Herb Spiral
The beautiful BUFCO Herb Spiral, utilizing a pattern that is found throughout the natural world, is a wonderful and practical way to enhance your yard and your growing potential. Made with a series of 3” thick Eastern White Cedar dowel, the Spiral measures roughly 5’ wide and three feet tall. Dowels are buried three or more feet deep to prevent heaving and shifting during the freeze-thaw cycles.
from $4,499
Please note: due to the need to excavate, this price is an estimate only, as unforeseen obstacles during excavation can impede normal installation progress.
Steel Frame
Our Steel Frame Wheelchair Accessible Garden Bed features a 5.5″ deep Eastern White Cedar garden bed that sits atop a sturdy steel frame on wheels. It can accommodate four wheelchair users at once, with plenty of room left over for caregivers to stand close by to help when needed. The intentionally shallow bed depth leaves plenty of space below for gardeners to tuck their legs nicely underneath, while ensuring the soil is at an easily accessed height. Five and a half inches of soil may sound shallow, yet it is plenty deep enough for a wide variety of edible plants to thrive in, including many varieties of lettuce, arugula, spinach, chard, most herbs, radishes, bush beans, and even smaller varieties of tomato plants!
- Accommodates at least four gardeners in wheelchairs at one time
- Roll-up access so gardeners can sit facing forward and garden without twisting
- 27.5” of clearance under the bed – the perfect height for even long-legged gardeners to get their legs under the bed, gaining better proximity to the soil
- A comfortable overall height of 33” so gardeners can easily reach the soil and plant material, even in the middle of the bed
- A steel frame that will last for decades and is far safer than beds on wooden legs
- Powder coat finish available in a wide range of colours to increase the lifespan of the bed frame, and keep it looking like new
- Industrial grade locking casters allow the bed to be installed on hard surfaces indoors and out, and easily moved as needed
- Built-in drainage channels that carry excess water out the sides of the bed and helps to prevent water from dripping on gardeners’ legs
- An Eastern White Cedar garden bed that measures 3’ x 6’ x 5.5” deep, suitable for growing a huge range if vegetables and herbs, as well as ornamental plants, yet is shallow and low enough to allow users to easily and comfortably access the soil and plants.
$4,300 + HST
Delivery/set up based on the installation location and access (e.g. ground level vs. rooftop).
Due to constantly fluctuating prices for elements require to manufacture our Steel Frame Raised Garden Bed, the purchase price may require adjustment on a case-by-case basis.
Contact us for a quote.
Wood Frame
Our Wood Frame Wheelchair Accessible Raised Garden Bed sits on the ground with deep soil that reaches to the bottom of the structure. Made entirely with Eastern White Cedar, it includes an angled wall on one side to accommodate easy access for up to three wheelchair uses at once, while leaving the remaining three sides available for those who use other assistive devices such as walkers or canes, as well as caregivers who need to stay close at hand.
The Wood Frame bed can also be fitted with a bed base, opening up the ability to install the bed on a solid surface.
$4500 + HST, fully installed
Frequently Asked Questions
An herb spiral is called an herb spiral only because traditionally it is used to grow herbs. However, that does not mean that you are limited to only basil, rosemary and parsley! One thing to keep in mind, however, is the height of your plants. Our herb spiral is three feet tall in the middle. Add to that a five foot tall tomato plant, and suddenly, you need to be eight feet tall to harvest!
Herb spirals use a lot of wood, each piece requiring some processing to create the lovely, uniform three-inch thick dowels. Dowels then have to be custom cut to specific lengths to create the incremental increase in height along the spiral. Significant excavation is also required, as the dowels are embedded below grade to a depth of three feet. This is done in order to eliminate the potential for shifting during the freeze-thaw cycles of our northern climate. An herb spiral is a two-day endeavour for a two-person crew.
Our Herb Spirals were introduced as a BUFCO product in 2019, so we haven’t seen them in action long enough to say for sure how long they will last. However, from experience with working with cedar, it is safe to say that your herb spiral will still be fully serviceable for at least eight years.
We use our specially blended Rooftop Mix soil for the Steel Frame Wheelchair Bed. Due to the fact that this bed is essentially a container (a closed-bottomed box), our triple mix blend will compact and compress over time, making it difficult for the young, delicate roots of seedlings and newly germinated seed to penetrate. The Rooftop Mix soil has a higher content of peat as well as roughly one-third worm castings (worm poop – probably the single most nutritious element that can be both found naturally in soil or added to a soil blend). Both these elements help reduce soil compaction and are excellent holders of water.
In our Wood Frame Wheelchair Bed, we use our standard triple mix soil, a beautifully textured, weed and seed-free growing medium comprised of one third peat, one third well composted horse manure, and one third top soil from fallow farm fields. Although not certified organic, it is clean and free from pesticides and herbicides. The exception for this bed would be if it were to be installed on a solid surface such as paver stone patio, thereby requiring the installation of a bed base. In this case, case we strongly recommend replacing the triple mix with the Rooftop Mix to avoid soil compaction.
Yes! It can! Although the Cedar Bed that comes with this product should last a good six to eight years, it is wood, and will wear out. A new bed can be ordered from BUFCO, which we can either install for you, or deliver for you to install yourself. It’s a simple case of removing the two drainage channels, removing six bolts that hold the bed in place, emptying the soil, and putting on the new box. Use the old bed to mark out and drill the holes for the new bed, put it in place, and bolt it down. Fill with the same soil that was in the old box, and plant when ready!
