All of us who garden, whether tending a few pots of colorful geraniums on a weathered balcony railing or raising enough home-grown vegetables to share with neighbors, have a deep and special understanding of the almost magical effect the garden has upon us.
During the growing season, the first thing I do when I get home from the office is check out the garden. What's coming up? Let's pull a few weeds. What's new in bloom? Are those color combinations I tried working? Did the deer have my phlox for breakfast again? For those ten to 15 minutes, I'm in another world. I relax; it's as invigorating as a quick nap.
In addition to relieving stress, gardening offers many natural avenues for exercise and is a great way to burn calories. With appropriate medical supervision, you can plan your garden to provide almost any degree of physical challenge. Most joints and major muscle groups of your body can be worked through their full ranges of motion during the almost limitless range of gardening activities. As someone who uses a wheelchair, (the author incurred a spinal cord injury in 1978 while rock-climbing) I work in the garden as one of my major sources of exercise. Because I enjoy collecting and caring for plants and being outdoors, I can work an hour or two and not notice it. Any time I can get exercise and not feel the "pain," that's my kind of exercise! Strength, balance, eye-hand coordination, range of motion, and endurance can all be challenged in the garden to just about any degree that you want - or not at all, as the case may be.
Besides exercise for the body, the wide field of horticulture offers many challenges for the mind. To design the perfect border, collect and study in-depth a particular group of plants, track down that rare exotic, or practice the art of pruning - all vary from the simple to the complex, with as many opinions as there are people. As far as I am concerned, horticulture is one of the most creative pursuits there is. Just about anything goes, and doing it your way is perfectly okay.
Why are plants, gardens, and nature so popular? There is something genuinely special about working the soil, creating and nurturing life, raising a living thing dependent on the care you give it, being in partnership with nature, and harvesting and eating fresh, sun-ripened vegetables you have grown yourself. Plants respond positively if you provide proper growing conditions. And plants don't care if you are young or old, fat or thin, white or black or purple with yellow spots.
Another major benefit of working with plants is that you always have potential new friends. Garden clubs and plant shows are great places to meet and interact with people with similar interests. Nothing gets people talking over the backyard fence quicker than the garden.
After I started working as a horticultural therapist, I established an enabling garden at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, which was then visited by thousands of people every day. The garden was located in an area formerly used for pigs (boy, did things grow!) and in full view of many passersby. The garden was tended by patients from my alma mater, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. I imagine we made quite a sight with all our wheelchairs, electric scooters, walkers, and crutches, every manner of race and disability, and gardening stuff all over the place. The real beauty of the garden went beyond the plants because, rather than being avoided or receiving quick sideways glances as people walked briskly by, we were bombarded with attention. People would stop and ask, "Hey, those are nice tomatoes - what kind are they?" or "I wish my soil was that good!" or "What's the name of that plant?" The garden connected us. We were as accepted as anyone else. The common bond of gardening seems to transcend all social barriers.
Medical scientists and other researchers have gathered important evidence that exposure to natural environments like woodlands and parks is very valuable to our well-being. We human beings seem to have an instinctive need to be around plants and nature. Some scientists hypothesize that our ancestors evolved in a savanna landscape, where clumps of trees were interspersed with open grassy areas. Trees or woodlands meant safety...the more dangerous open areas were places to hunt but also offered greater risk of being seen as prey yourself. These preferences for open areas dotted with clumps of trees are reflected in the most popular designs in our city parks.
As our abilities to move about change due to age or disability, so do our opportunities to hike the wilderness pathways and to experience the natural areas we apparently instinctively need. They may become less accessible to us. We have to look more at our own yards and gardens for our nature needs. By being involved in gardening, you in effect bring nature to you.
We all know how important rest and relaxation is to our morale and overall satisfaction in life. The opportunities offered through gardening for quality recreation time are nearly limitless.
Plants provide almost immediate, continuous and long-term rewards: the germinating seed, each new leaf of the growing plant, the slow but steady maturation... Harvesting tomatoes fresh from the vine and warm from the sun, and carrying over seed from that special squash your great-grandfather used to grow, are deeply rewarding, connecting us with both the past and the future.
Medical scientists and psychologists have also begun to measure and identify physical and mental benefits from participation in garden activities. Hospital patients require less pain medication and fewer days stay when viewing trees outside their windows...visits to public gardens appear to lower blood pressure. Horticultural therapy is gaining national recognition and acceptance because of the efforts of the American Horticultural Therapy Association, established in 1973. Horticultural therapists are located in every state and are an excellent source of help.
Those of us who actively garden have known of these many advantages to mind and body that gardening offers... I encourage each of you to garden no matter what your age or ability, to never stop if you don't want to stop. You need to create your own Enabling Garden at home. To do that, the first step is to frankly assess your abilities. This will provide the individualized information about how much you want to do, can, or should do. You will select special structures and equipment, design the garden, and choose the plants.
Most importantly, you will create a garden you can manage, and one which enables you to reap the benefits of gardening for as long as you wish.
Adaptive Gardening - from A sparagus to Z ucchini!
Unlike a few years ago, there are now dozens of books and periodicals devoted to getting people started in barrier-free gardening. Whatever the person's age, physical or mental disability, or location, it's almost always possible to create a special place for growing things.
One of the most comprehensive guidelines to this enjoyable hobby is Gene Rothert's "The Enabling Garden," designed to bring gardening within reach of all. In a friendly style filled with informative and entertaining anecdotes and bursting with helpful tips, the book covers all aspects of accessible gardening. Examples include:
. Raised beds - more costly than other methods, but potentially more comfortable, efficient, and productive than scattered sites
. Container planting - an endless variety - from whiskey barrels and stacked tires to pots made of wood, metal, clay. ceramic, plastic, or stone -a practical approach when ground-space is limited or nonexistent
. Table planters - the easiest access for people in wheelchairs, though plants are limited to those that tolerate shallow soil which dries out quickly
. Vertical structures - walls and fences are ideal for vine-type plants and colorful flower pots; arbors and trellises provide overhead growing space, support hanging baskets, and add a dappled-shade retreat to the yard. Best of all, no bending!
. Aquatic gardens - infuse an area with interest, eye-appeal, and serenity.
And there's more! Many of these helpful books:
- recommend which type of plants do best in a particular setting,
- suggest proper construction and grading materials for beds and surrounding areas,
- provide basic to complex drawings of optimal garden designs,
- give simple tips such as using a barbeque tongs to retrieve tools and clippings, and a salt shaker to spread seeds, plus
- direct gardeners to outlets and catalogues featuring specialty tools and adaptive equipment for people with disabilities.
Spring will be here soon. Get busy planning your ideal garden and look forward to hours - no, years of delight!
Illustrations in "The Enabling Garden" by Laurie Noffs
Seeding the Garden
Looking for assistance in starting an adaptive garden?
While this is not an all-inclusive listing of resources, it is current as of 1994, and can launch you on what could prove to be a satisfying and therapeutic hobby. From tool suppliers to books, magazines, and associations that help people with disabilities, there is a wealth of direction and encouragement out there.
Dig right in! Ergonomically-Designed Tools
AdaptAbility
P.O. Box 515
Colchester, CT 06415-0515
800-288-9941
Enrichments
P.O. Box 471
Western Springs, IL 60558
800-323-5547
Nicke's Garden Talk
P.O. Box 433
Topsfield, MA 01983
800-822-4114
Alsto's Handy Helpers
P.O. Box 1267
Galesburg, IL 61401
800-447-0048
Habilus - Ergonomic Products for Capability
Box 2265 Square One
100 City Centre Dr.
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5R 3C8
905-712-0237
Lever-Aide Garden Tools
1357 Park Rd., Dept. CBG
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Smith and Hawken
25 Corte Madera
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-383-4415
Gardening Books & Publications
The Enabling Garden
by Gene Rothert
($12.95)
Taylor Publishing Co., 1994
1550 W. Mockingbird Ln.
Dallas, TX 75235
214-819-8153
The Able Gardener: Overcoming Barriers of Age and Physical Limitations
by Kathleen Yeomans, RN
Garden Way Publishing
Storey Communications, Inc.
Schoolhouse Rd.
Pownal, VT 05261
800-827-8673
Accessible Gardening for People With Physical
Disabilities
by Janeen R. Adil
Woodbine Publishing House
800-843-7323
Container Gardening for the Handicapped
by Frank Schweller
Hand-D-Cap Publishing
1027 E. Las Palmaritas Dr.
Phoenix, AZ 85020
How to Build An Adaptive Planter
Spalding Rehabilitation Hospital, PR Dept.
4500 E. Iliff Ave.
Denver, CO 80222
303-782-5700
The Wheelabout Garden
1980
Available from National Easter Seal Society
2023 W. Ogden Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612
Additional Resources
American Horticultural Therapy Association
362A Christopher Ave.
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
301-948-3010
USDA National Agricultural Library
Reference Librarian
10301 Baltimore Blvd., Room 100
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
301-504-5204
Raised Bed Container Gardening System
Living Wall Garden Company
5 Toby St.
Naples, NY 14512
716-374-2340
About the Author
Gene Rothert, 41, was invovled in a rock-climbing accident in 1978 during his junior year in college. He now uses a wheelchair. Vigorous therapy at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago gave him the tools to regain an independent and productive life. Graduating from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Plant and Soil Science, he began to work at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, in a new program called Horticultural Therapy. The "Learning Garden for the Disabled" which he and the Botanical Garden staff subsequently created, was one of the first of its kind in the country, applying the benefits of horticulture to rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities and older adults.
Now manager of Urban Horticulture for the Chicago Botanic Garden, Gene is president of the American Horticultural Therapy Association and authors a column on barrier-free gardening. The preceding article was excerpted from Gene's comprehensive book on accessible gardening, "The Enabling Garden," released in 1994 by Taylor Publishing, Dallas, Tex., $12.95. The author has also appeared on PBS television's "Victory Garden." Gene and his wife Cathy, a physical therapist, enjoy gardening on their half-acre lot in Highland Park, IL
