After talking with someone who gardens in her wheelchair, I started thinking about other people who might enjoy gardening but think that doing so is not possible due to their physical limitations. I realize that I am no expert in this area, but I thought I would throw out a few ideas, and hope that those of you who are more experienced than I am will pipe up with your own tips.
Container Gardening is Where It’s At: It strikes me that container gardening is particularly well suited to people who need certain accommodations to enjoy gardening. For starters, pots are usually placed on hard surfaces, which are easier to traverse for those in wheelchairs or who are unsteady on their feet. Also, large containers or planters raise the plants up to lap-level if you will be sitting while gardening. Even if you will be standing while gardening, having plants higher up will be easier on your back, hips and knees. Smaller pots can be placed on plant stands to raise them up to an appropriate height. If needed, containers can be spaced at the correct distance apart to allow a gardener using a wheelchair or walker to easily move around his or her pots.
Train Your Plants to Meet Your Needs: If you’d like to grow fruit trees, but reaching up high is difficult or not possible, try espaliering your fruit tree. This means training a tree to grow in the shape of a hedge along a wall or trellis. The branches grow straight out to the sides, along the wall, and fruit is easily accessible. Espaliering actually encourages better fruit production than allowing a tree to grow in a more natural shape, so it’s a win-win.
Choosing the Right Tools: If holding heavy tools is difficult because of arthritis or weakness in your arms or hands, there are plastic tools that are lighter and easier to grip. Cushioning can be added to the handles of such tools if a wider handle would make gripping it easier. A light weight power tool can make trimming easier if repetitive squeezing hurts your hands. If you don’t want to use a power tool, it might be worth investing in some of the more expensive clippers designed to do most of the hard work for you.
Common Sense Safety: For all gardeners, good back posture will help reduce or eliminate back strains. Also, it is a good general practice to not spend a long period of time doing the same repetitive motion. Spend a few minutes trimming, then move to digging a hole, then a bit of weeding, before continuing with the trimming. Always garden when your gardening space is well lit to avoid inadvertently hurting yourself. I once cut a toe because I was gardening at night with sandals on. I didn’t see my clippers on the edge of the air conditioning unit and knocked them off the unit and onto my foot. Needless to say, all gardeners should garden with real shoes on if possible, and put their tools in a safe place when not using them.
Watering: When potting up your plants, mix in special crystals which retain water. Alternatively, put mulch over all exposed dirt. And only water in the evening, when less of the water will evaporate before your plants can use it. All three of those tips will help your pots retain moisture and thus not require a heavy watering can to be lugged around. If you have access to a water faucet in your gardening space, you can purchase a relatively inexpensive drip watering systems that will automatically water your plants. If you must use a watering can, chose a lightweight plastic can, and only fill it with an amount of water that you can easily carry around.
I am sure I have only scratched the surface here. What ideas do you think would help someone with physical limitations enjoy gardening?
Photo by teal chick
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
A interesting and informative subject, I am really looking forward to finding out what other people are suggesting also.
In my community I am trying to start up a community garden. When the garden does happen we are going to have garden beds that are on tables, this way people with wheel chairs can get up close to the tables and do their own gardening! I am really excited about the post you did do to the amount of info you just gave me!
~Zach
Ideally, you should have a complete re-design of your garden to fit your disability. And much more needs to be said regarding space limitations. Container gardening will probably require more floor space which might cause problems for those in wheelchairs.
TC — I think a complete redesign isn’t always feasible, especially for people who are relying on disability or social security payments to make ends meet.
The woman that inspired this post lives in the apartment building next to mine. She has her patio space, and that’s it, it’s not like she can expand or change any of the hardscaping. She wouldn’t be able to garden at all if she had to garden in traditional beds.
Hi Fern,
Not only can people with disabilities use these great tips that you’ve listed, but they can also consider growing houseplants. If for example, they don’t have a large yard, a collection of houseplants would be a good idea. There are numerous houseplants which are easy to grow and provide some green leaves and/or flowers indoors. Additionally, if they live in a colder part of the country, this would also be a nice alternative.
With that being said, however, there is nothing like tending to an outdoor garden, whether it be fruits, vegetables, or flowers. I think your ideas are great!
Jordan — Houseplants are a great idea! They have the added benefit of improving the air quality inside one’s home.
I love these tips, Fern! I’ve had great experiences with raised beds for people in wheelchairs. They work best if the beds are about 2′ up and not more than 3′ deep/ wide so that every part of the bed is accessible from one side.
There’s a nursing home in San Francisco that has extensive raised beds like this, and it made my heart sing to see the elderly people, many of whem looked in bad shape, lighting up to have their hands in the soil and be part of nature’s cycles.
Great, great post.
Gen — The raised beds at that nursing home sound like a great idea! When building a bed 2 feet tall, do you have to do any special construction, or is it just like a lower raised bed, just with more wood?
You know, I’m not really sure about that! The wooden ones I’ve seen look pretty similar to a regular raised bed with maybe a little more support to keep from bowing out, but I haven’t personally constructed one so I can’t say for sure.
I’ve also seen some gorgeous masonry beds, with either Pyzique stones or something similar, brick, concrete faced with flagstone, or a dry stack stone wall. Pricy, though. Many people with disabilities are on a fixed income so container planting is really the most sensible way to go for most people.
Gen — Oooh, I have seen raised beds made out of stone or stone “veneers” and they look gorgeous! I’ve been watching the front yard renovation of a home in my parents neighborhood and they made beautiful raised beds where they first built a box out of standard masonry blocks and then finished them with these stacked stone facades that look amazing. You’d never know that they were “fake.” Those would definitely have to be for the gardens of wealthier disabled folks though.
I actually have a friend who is a quadriplegic with her own container garden. She started gardening several years ago because she had literally began to ache to be out in nature. Because she lives in an urban environment and struggles with transportation, she decided the best way to ensure regular access was to bring the plants to her.
She has a motorized chair, and the container garden on the patio allows her to drive around and gain access to the plants for pruning and watering. Most are in pots (big ones), but she raised several of them with cheap-o cinderblocks from the Home Depot. By turning them on their side so the holes face up, you can use the blocks themselves as pots. She has an artistic eye, and she has worked them into really attractive flowering steps and such at different points on the patio–an affordable version of what someone suggested above.
The trick for her is finding tools she can hold with her arm splint and the small range of movement she has in her hands. She’s found miniature tools work very well (she can slip them into her splint next to her arm to hold them in place), as do long bamboo tweezers, but she has a hard time finding them. (If anyone out there knows where to find them, please e-mail me and let me know.) When she fertilizes on her own, she uses the stick sort that you push into the ground instead of the granular stuff that has to be worked into the dirt. Usually I or another friend will help her trellis plants when necessary, and she has recently started to look into expanding her garden with plants that need less intensive care, such as cacti and succulents.
It’s definitely something you have to work out, but there are many ways for those with disabilities to maintain beautiful gardens. Having help with it every now and again opens up more possibilities for those with high-level disabilities (repotting and trellising are extremely difficult for my friend, for example), but for many people, it is an absolutely radiant addition to their life. I think spending time digging in dirt is therapeutic for everyone, but it can have a special impact for those people who may be restricted from getting out and enjoy all the green and growing world due to transportation issues or attendant care shortfalls. My own friend swears her garden literally saved her life. I would love a special series on this–accessible gardening.
Laurel — Your friend sounds like she has a beautiful garden, thanks for sharing her tips!
Love all the information on container and gardening by disabled. As I get older and acquire more infirmaties I appreciate the ability to garden more, am constantly looking for easier ways to make gardening accessible. Here in Fl we can garden most of the year, but heat and humidity makes it a challenge both to plants and gardner. The sandy soil and pests also make container gardening more practical for everyone. Enjoyed your article very much, thanks for sharing the information. I have found that the book and PBS Series Square Foot Gardening gave me many ideas also usable for container gardening.
Phyl — Thanks for stopping by, I’m glad you found some useful info here! I feel a kinship with Floridians because you guys are one of the few areas in the U.S. that is outside gardening this time of year like us Californians. I’ll have the check out the PBS show you mentioned. I’ve seen the book but not the show.
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