Gardening for Seniors and the Physically Challenged

Are you in a wheelchair, and long to dig in the dirtway to ring your doorbell. Put a waist high herb
and create flowering beauty and grow far moregarden right outside your kitchen door and add an
zucchini than you can give away? Or are your kneesarea in it for your favorite cut flowers.When you're
just starting to age and even though you've loveddeciding where to locate the raised bed or container,
gardening all your life, you're having more troublebe sure to remember physically demanding
getting up and down and are afraid you'll have topracticalities like dragging a heavy hose to water it.
give up gardening altogether? Did you botch the lastThink and plan a low energy solution for what you'll
pruning of your roses because of the worseningdo with the compost material.Problem: "My painful
arthritis in your hands?Welcome to the world of thehands don't have the strength for ..."You can get
physically challenged gardener.Don't despair.tools which extend your arms to reach the ground
Adapt!There's plenty of help out there in the form oflevel flower bed from a sitting position. Several
advice, tools, raised flower beds and other specializedmanufacturers make specially tools with light weight
equipment.handles designed to keep the wrist and hand in a
A Google search of "Disabled gardening tools" leadsstress-free position and to provide a firmer grip.
to 125 websites with specific helpful adaptiveSmall, light rakes, hoes, etc. like this can work
equipment. "Disabled gardening" gives a whoppingwonders.Think ratchet pruner, ratchet lopping shears
873,000 results where you can find advice and... let the laws of physics give your hands a hand.
"handicapped gardening" yields 111,000. Let thoseYou'll be amazed when you look at the tools available.
arthritic fingers do your walking!Problem: "The groundPull difficult weeds by stepping on a lever.Problem: "I
is just too far down there!"Think about doing yourget so tired so quickly."Hey, the weeds didn't grow all
gardening while sitting on a chair, instead of on theat once; you don't have to pull them all at once. Pace
ground, squatting or bending over. The most obviousyourself. Find ways to make gardening something
solution is to build raised flower beds and scatteryou do while you sit and drink a cup of tea and listen
containers throughout your garden area. Buy cheapto the birds, rather than a work chore you slave
plastic outdoor chairs and place one beside eachaway at for a full afternoon. Pull one weed from the
mini-garden so you don't have to drag or carry whenscented garden near your front door on your way
it's time to weed. You can just sit down and enjoyout and another weed on the way in. Plant parsley in
the feel of moist earth beneath your fingers andyour kitchen door herb garden while your toast is
breathe in the heavenly smell of freshly applied fishtoasting and the coffee is dripping.Buy and plant 3
emulsion.If you hang a cup holder on the edge ofpacks of flowers instead of a whole flat. Take a nice
your container, you can even have the luxury of teaaerobic walk around your yard, stopping at a
or coffee with your weeds. Maybe the fish emulsiondifferent container for 5 minutes "conversation" with
should wait.Don't think about what you've lost nowyour plants on each cycle, then go back inside and
that you can't crawl around weeding the perennialplop on the recliner. You'll be amazed at how much
border; teach your grandchild or a neighborhood kidgets done in these mini-work sessions. Your heart will
the joy to be found doing that task ... you've justlove you, too.Remember, one of the nice things
discovered a new adventure in gardening. The goodabout flowers is they don't have anything to prove.
news is that you may find whole different specialWe can all learn a lesson from them.This article
areas of your yard where you can stick acourtesy of
mini-garden.Get creative. Put a beautiful containerYou may freely reprint this article on your website
near your front door and plant wonderfully scentedor in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice
flowers to greet your guests ... or perhaps a niceand the author name and URL remain intact.
cherry tomato plant they can steal from on their