Matt Hartranft called it “sweat equi-ty.”
Whatever it was, he was happy to trade an afternoon working at the Orchards KeyBank for spending time outside wearing a pair of jeans and wielding an electric drill.
Hartranft and about nine other KeyBank employees worked in teams Tuesday constructing a set of raised garden beds, which will help The Arc of Clark County fill an empty plot with vegetables, a paved walking path and a gazebo.
“So many people have hidden talents,” said Hartranft, who built decks before he started working for KeyBank. “This is a good chance to get out and use them.”
The project was one of four financed by the Portland Rose Festival Foundation and KeyBank as part of their “Pledge to be Positive in Your Community” initiative. Rose Festival events begin Friday and run through June 13.
More than 130 organizations submitted grant applications.
Raised garden beds are an increasingly popular horticultural tool, especially among those who have trouble getting down in the dirt and maneuvering around large land plots. As one official with the Washington State University Clark County Extension office put it: “It brings the garden to the gardener.”
Of the more than 80 community gardens in Clark County, Jess Dunn said the blossoming grounds at The Arc stand alone.
“It’s the only one focused on those with disabilities,” said Dunn, The Arc’s executive director.
He said the raised garden beds are a key component of The Arc’s “Room to Grow” project, which will turn a mostly empty acre beside The Arc’s headquarters into a garden that will include a paved walkway and fruit orchard. Last spring, KeyBank installed a rock bed.
Dunn said he has no idea when his vision will become reality. “We just move as fast as we’re able,” he said.
The use of raised garden beds is a growing trend credited with lengthening growing seasons, allowing crop growth in smaller areas and improving accessibility.
“It concentrates your vegetables in one easily managed area,” said Charles Brun, a faculty member with the extension service. “If you make the raised bed high enough, you don’t have to bend over as much.”
Raised garden beds are typically made using railroad ties, concrete cinder blocks or cedar boards (The Arc’s chosen material), but anything that can contain soil could work. They are generally, according to Brun, four feet wide, six-to-20 inches deep and can vary in length.
They’re designed to improve a garden’s drainage, and also to make it easier to weed and harvest.
But mostly, they make gardening more inclusive.
“(Raised beds) make a common, everyday thing — in gardening — accessible to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to do it,” said Carol Ross, the Portland Rose Festival’s marketing director. She said that was one of the reasons The Arc was selected to receive a grant totaling $1,600.
On Tuesday, Hartranft and Matt Netzel constructed the walls, while Michael Hill and a partner assembled the ends. They shared laughs and banged fingers. With six new beds in place, the garden will soon receive soil and seed.
The Rose Festival effort coincided with KeyBank’s “Neighbors Day,” a once-a-year event that closes bank branches for an afternoon so employees can help with service projects.
Hartranft said constructing the beds for Arc regulars who have limited mobility made sense.
“Someone really did their homework,” he said.
