Caringbah, NSW

This standing-height planter for a retired couple in Caringbah was built with growing veggies alongside the grandkids in mind. At 85cm high there's no bending and no heavy watering cans to lug about, which makes it a genuine pleasure to use rather than another chore.

Accessible raised beds like this are one of the nicest ways to keep gardening comfortably as the years go on, and they're a firm favourite for gardening with little ones — everything happens at a height where a grandparent and a grandchild can potter side by side. Being a wicking bed, it stores its water in a reservoir below and draws it up to the roots, so there's no daily watering to stay on top of and nothing dries out between visits.

Caringbah enjoys the warm, sheltered climate of the Sutherland Shire, so this bed will happily carry herbs, salad, strawberries and the easy, fast crops that kids love to pull straight out of the soil. Raising it to standing height also keeps it clear of the sandy Shire soils and makes the whole thing easy to reach, even from a chair.

We use sturdy, food-safe timber built to last many seasons of hands-on family use without rotting or needing sealing. If someone in Caringbah, Cronulla or elsewhere in the Sutherland Shire would garden more easily at a comfortable height, we'd be glad to help you plan an accessible bed.