handicapped garden.

[backyardagain]

So this fall/winter/spring i will be going out to my parents out and helping them with a outdoor garden, my mother has MS(multiple sclerosis) and its not gettting better, basically she would like to have an outdoor garden of some peas, celery tomatos corn pepeprs stuff liek that. i was thinking either a raised flowerbed or a type of greenhouse. she doesnt want it to be an eye sore out in the back but she would like to do some work on it. she is bound to a wheelchair/electircchair. any ideas how one would go about this?>

 

[Medicine4Me]

I'd think your idea of a raised flowerbed will work. She basicly needs easy access to water, ferts, etc. on a path that she can roll out to. If she can hold things with her hands she should be able to go from there.

 

[backyardagain]

she can hold stuff to an extient, what might be light to you and me. is not for her, some types of food cans she cant pick up and hold just because it is that server,

 

[stickyicky0420]

o well then you might just want her a nice long hose they make a super light hose that is 100 feet long but when your done it goes back down to 15 ft long its like a strectchy hose and mirical grow make a fert system you just attach to the end of you hose do you think that would be to heavy for her to hold ?

 

[stickyicky0420]

ill try to find a link for the hose in the mean time cause i forgot what its called

 

[stickyicky0420]

here is the link www.xhose.com/ its says its like as light as you can get a hose shuould be perfect i think it was like 20$ when i saw it on tv my internet is slow so i couldnt relly click on the link though
hope this helps
much love
sticky

 

[backyardagain]

Yeah I think I seen that hose and if worst comes to worst I could nake something to attach to her chair. Or just taje care of plants for her. I am her caregiver so I would be helping too. But she wants to feel useful again. Being in a chair for 10+years get to you

 

[stickyicky0420]

here is the info on it http://www.asseenontvonsale.com/cleaning/xhose/ the small one says 19.95 the big one is 39.95 this site has all the specs

 

[stickyicky0420]

Yeah I think I seen that hose and if worst comes to worst I could nake something to attach to her chair. Or just taje care of plants for her. I am her caregiver so I would be helping too. But she wants to feel useful again. Being in a chair for 10+years get to you

yea i bet but it should be a great idea to get her moveing around and have something to look foward to most of the days relly good idea i think

 

[backyardagain]

Yeah. We finally got a new ramp installed into the backyard first one was to steep to go by herself. Now all we have to do is pave a walkway to the garden with bricks orsometype of stone so she can easily get there and by the water.

 

[silasraven]

So this fall/winter/spring i will be going out to my parents out and helping them with a outdoor garden, my mother has MS(multiple sclerosis) and its not gettting better, basically she would like to have an outdoor garden of some peas, celery tomatos corn pepeprs stuff liek that. i was thinking either a raised flowerbed or a type of greenhouse. she doesnt want it to be an eye sore out in the back but she would like to do some work on it. she is bound to a wheelchair/electircchair. any ideas how one would go about this?>

raised beds . lots of them, dont forget the hoops for trelising

 

[imchucky666]

So this fall/winter/spring i will be going out to my parents out and helping them with a outdoor garden, my mother has MS(multiple sclerosis) and its not gettting better, basically she would like to have an outdoor garden of some peas, celery tomatos corn pepeprs stuff liek that. i was thinking either a raised flowerbed or a type of greenhouse. she doesnt want it to be an eye sore out in the back but she would like to do some work on it. she is bound to a wheelchair/electircchair. any ideas how one would go about this?>

That's real cool that you're helping her out like this, I remember how my grandmother loved her garden, but as she got up into her 70's she still tried to do as much as she did before, and just up until a couple weeks before she passed, I was still helping her weed, water, I put down pavers for her to walk in the garden on, and sank stakes every few feet for her to hold onto to help her stand up from kneeling, or in case she fell.

 

[backyardagain]

sorry about your loss, also had a grandmother who also lived with us loved to do the same thing, well she passed when i was 6. always remember going into the garden with her (this is when my mom was able to walk.) and heloing her, after she passed my mom was diganoised with MS and ever since then year after year she slowly get worse and worse by losing strength and the ability to walk by her self. just last year she had to get back surgery for a disk being messed up because of the way i and other helpers would have to lift her up to go to the bathroom. just brought back alot of memories chucky, i do have to say thank you for that.

 

[Whatstrain]

Slightly costly but what i would do is set up some timers with pumps to water the raised beds using a big reservoir that should last a few weeks. If its possible and you can get your hands one one of those 1000gallon water tanks and dig it into the ground and make a big raincatcher with screens to filter and feed into it. If its just for looks then get some time release nutes, if your eating it then same thing with a smaller nutrient reservoir but no rain catcher and one pump with a line that feeds into your water line.

I have seem threads of people putting mulch and cedar wood chips around the plants to keep weeds out i would give that a try so you keep the work done to the bare minimum. Look for low maintenance plants, if you can grow some of the flowers she might of seen when she was younger that would be nice.


While i never met my grandmother my mom told me about her my entire childhood. When she first got diagnosed and it got bad she couldn't remember her kids or her husband but would see someone in town she hadn't seen since she was in high school and would remember them right away. Best of luck to you two, its nice to hear of you doing something nice for her.

 

[dannyboy602]

props to you for starting a garden around her needs. i had the occasion once to tour a garden designed for the blind. it was all about plants with a fragrance or a certain feel. i went through it with a class mate, who guided me by the arm. i closed my eyes through the whole thing first. then again with my eyes opened. what a difference. it wasn't particularly beautiful with my eyes opened. it changed my approach to design. people experience plants only partly through sight. if you close your eyes a whole different world unfolds. mb you could do a drawing on paper first, go over it with her and make her part of the process.

 

[...alias...]

Another thought would be a variation on raised beds, my pops is an orchid farmer and in his greenhouse some plants are set on long tables. Basically 2x4 frames but heavy duty wire screens on the tops. Pots are placed on the screens, so as not to have to bend over to cut the orchids. Planter boxes could be placed instead of screen in your case.
I hope this is not what you all refer to as raised beds. Here in Hawaii raised beds are only slightly above ground level.

Anyways good luck and props to you