Tuck your plants into a raised bed with M Brace

It's not often a napkin holder sparks a business idea and career path, but that's what happened to Northern California high school teacher Jill Plumb.

"It was definitely one of those lightbulb moments," says Plumb, who recalls the day in January 2009 when she was working in her yard, came into her kitchen and an empty napkin holder caught her eye.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if you could slide boards and build a raised bed like the way napkins slide into a napkin holder?' " she says.

That simple but ingenious idea led her to create the M Brace, a set of four recycled steel corner brackets that can be used to create a raised bed for flowers or vegetables - without tools - in less than half an hour.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/16/HOU31D5PE3.DTL