Make It Easy To Get Around Your Garden
Last weekend, I was introduced to a side of gardening that has long been overlooked. For many gardeners in our community, the act of gardening is often met with handicaps and barriers. To help break down the barriers and make gardening more accessible to everyone, St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute and the Friends of Manito sponsored a oneday workshop filled with ingenious ideas and solutions. I would like to share a few of these ideas:
For wheelchair gardeners and/or gardeners with limited range of motion: Don’t struggle with garden beds that are wide and difficult to maneuver around. Bring the garden beds to you. Create beds that can be easily reached. If a bed is to be totally accessible from the sides, it should be no wider than four feet. If the bed is up against a wall, a two-foot-wide bed should work just fine. The height of the beds will be determined by the gardener. If the gardener can kneel on the ground, then the beds do not have to be raised. If the beds are created for wheelchairs, they should be chair-height.
Create paths that are hardsurfaced, wide and maneuverable.If the garden won’t allow wide paths, consider a few wide turnaround areas.
Gardening for those with arthritis: Aching joints are nothing new to gardeners. After all, we sit and kneel on cold soil. We bend, stretch and stoop with the same repeated motions.
Gardening in raised beds and containers eases bending and stooping. If you enjoy hanging baskets, but it’s painful to stretch to care for them, try putting them on a pully system. Bring the containers to you.
Use foam rubber kneeling pads or, as an interested reader suggested, stuff a plastic grocery sack with other plastic grocery sacks and tie it closed. It makes for a great kneeler. Kneeling benches are also very helpful. You kneel on a pad between two side handles. When you wish to move to another spot, simply grab the handles and boost yourself upright. Turn the kneeler over, and you have a bench to sit on.
Gardening with tools that make our tasks easier: Look for lightweight tools. Often sturdy children’s tools work great. Ratchet pruners are easy on the hands, so they, too, are an excellent purchase.
Wear a carpenter’s apron with pockets to carry needed tools, seeds, etc. A carpenter’s apron wrapped around a five-gallon bucket can be quite useful, not only for accessibility to the tools, but the bucket can be used for weeds and/or a chair.
The ease with which we grip tools is very important. Purchase gloves that are covered with little raised plastic dots. The raised dots make it easier to grip the tools. Tools with thick handles are also easier to grip. Slip a chunk of black pipe insulation over the handles of your existing tools to achieve the same additional padding.
If hoses are used, purchase highquality rubber hoses that won’t kink. For the ease of connecting hoses to faucets, use brass snap connectors. You’ll never have to screw another hose to a faucet. To keep from dragging the hose through the garden beds, use rebar covered with PVC pipe at the corners of the bed.
This is only a handful of ideas offered for all gardeners, especially those with disabilities. For more information on barrier-free gardening, contact the WSU Master Gardeners or St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute. “The Enabling Garden” by Gene Rothert is an excellent book dedicated to creating barrier-free gardens.
I hope no one ever has to give up the joy of gardening.
On another note
Saturday and Sunday, the Associated Garden Clubs will host their annual spring plant sale at Manito Park, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
In conjunction with the plant sale, the garden clubs, along with the Floral Art Designer’s Guild, will host their lilac and spring flower show, “Lilacs on Stage.” The Lilac Society will be selling lilacs at this time.
Also, mark Thursday on your calendar. The Lilac Society will be hosting an information booth in the Manito Lilac Garden from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Members will be on had to answer all your cultural problems. Lilacs will also be available to purchase.