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Gardening with a Disability
This article reminded me of when I was a kid. Before I got too heavy to lift off the ground my parents would set me in the garden to help plant seeds, weed and even pick strawberries. Those days have long since past, but it’s something I still enjoy. I do plant a lot of flower pots and some day may get a raised garden. I usually help pick raspberries because they’re just my level, but here’s a great idea for strawberries! https://www.wuft.org/news/2019/04/11/farm-near-gainesville-builds-handicap-accessible-strawberry-picking/?fbclid=IwAR2ODJUGYJGFCq_h3u9xEFLdU2UavfPhY8pwLBZdpo_PxwylmqHdyxwFeuc
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4 Replies
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Hi, DeAnn! This is an awesome link! Thank you for posting it. I, too, like container gardening. I now have a raised wooden gardening box that I’m going to try out this year. 🙂 I also enjoyed reading about your memories of planting seeds. I’ve often wished more power wheelchairs could somehow lower all the way to ground-level. During childhood, I always wanted to be able to sit on the ground with the other kids at times — drawing on the pavement with chalk, or sitting in a reading circle during class. (Who am I kidding…I still want to be able to sit on the pavement and draw unicorns with chalk!) Those are the times I wished I could be even shorter! Ha!
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Yes, I always thought that’d be a cool chair feature too. Who doesn’t love sidewalk chalk! Since where I’m living now has a relatively small yard I stick with placing pots on tables or stools. I’ve even flipped empty flower pots upside down and placed the planted one on top just to bring it to my level. Let us know how the garden box goes. Do you know what you’re planting in it?
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DeAnn & Katie, straw bale gardening is a great affordable alternative to raised beds for wheelchair users. You can pull the chair right up to or parallel to the bales and harvest your garden. There is no weeding and after one or two seasons of gardening you can compost the bales. I have grown lettuce, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, zucchini, herbs, chard and flowers in straw bales. Google straw bale gardening if you want more information. I tried to include photos of one of my past gardens in my first reply but it did not work so I deleted the original reply and resubmitted it sans the the attempted attachments.
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Thanks for the suggestion! We tried it once, but it seemed to dry out really fast. Maybe we didn’t have it in the right spot. I’ll have to look into it and maybe give it another try. Glad to hear it’s been successful for you. Nothing beats fresh produce from your own garden.
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