gardening for seniors with mobility issues

twav1950
Thursday, September 17, 2015 - 1:25pm

Has anyone ever thought about providing access to community gardening areas by constructing raised beds that are at an appropriate height for someone in a wheelchair or mobility scooter so that they can be involved? I'm fairly certain that there are many seniors who have given up on gardening because of mobility issues and who would love the opportunity to be out in the sunshine and growing delicious food and flowers. Many seniors facilities provide transportation so getting them to the community garden would not very often be an issue. Access is the big issue and i believe the solution is fairly simple if an appropriate and effective raised bed area was designed and built. I anyone thinks that this is a good idea or has further ideas or actual practical experience along this line please make a comment. Thanks, Terry

Food Environments
Regional and Local
Food Systems
Region: 
British Columbia

Comments

Submitted by ADresiliency on Mon, 2015/10/26 - 7:35pm.

Hi Terry, my name is Alana-Dawn and I coordinate the Mount Royal University Community Garden. This past year, a committee of Nursing Faculty members and a Horticulture therapist ran a horticulture therapy (HT) pilot project integrated with our community garden. To make the garden more accessible we built raised beds and made pathways wide enough (with turnarounds) for people in wheelchairs or people with walkers, strollers ect. Participants in the HT program and garden members were of diverse ages and mixed abilities. It was a great success. I'd be happy to connect and chat more. My email is a.eirikson@samru.ca

Submitted by bewing on Thu, 2015/11/12 - 10:05am.

All the 40 garden plots is the Campbellton Community Garden are raised beds. They stand about three feet off the ground, ideally, they should have been built a bit higher and with a seat in each corner. The seats can still be added. Our problem is pathways. Our budget is nearly empty and we lease the site. There is only one year left on the current lease.

Submitted by JimP on Fri, 2015/12/18 - 12:44pm.

We have a 7 acre u-pick lowbush blueberry and redberry(lingon)patch and seniors are a big percentage of our customers.
We don't have raised beds but we have drive-right-up-to picking. I keep our patch mowed and it is on flat delta land with no rocks. Berry picking is a big part of the culture here in Central Labrador and having to get across ditches to go berrying is a new obstacle for people here. We recognized this and opened our patch to drive-right-up-to. Everyone is allowed to pick and eat, especially kids. You can bring your dog too, but it's got to be tied on. We charge by the pound and nearly all customers pay more than the weight asks for. We have buckets to pick in and give plastic bags to take the berries home in. We have blankets for people to sit on while they are picking or to let youngsters lay on. We have had as many as 32 people picking at one time !

Submitted by Tammyphilip on Fri, 2016/08/19 - 6:57am.

I would really appreciate your thoughts to help the senior citizens with mobility issues to do gardening. I am sure gardening can help them lead a better and happy life even if they are having mobility issues.cable tv alternatives Such efforts to help others should be really appreciable.