Adaptive Gardening
Container gardening for Individuals with Disabilities

With a whopping 84 percent of households involved in at least one form of gardening, there is a great need to address adaptability of gardening for individuals with physical limitations. If you have problems with mobility, joint pain, back strain, fatigue, failing eyesight or unsteadiness, creating a garden in containers can add years to your gardening life. We all know someone with one or more of those ailments or more seriously restricted persons requiring wheelchairs for mobility. As our population is aging and these physical limitations are more prevalent they need not create a problem for novice or experienced gardeners. Container gardening is interesting and challenging and requires less labor therefore it becomes a real plus for special needs persons.

Gardening has long been known as an ideal relief for daily stress and as a preventative therapy to maintain personal wellbeing. With the use of container gardens the disabled or elderly can acquire a new and rewarding hobby. Most traditional gardening is considered a ground-level endeavor but that is quickly changing. NeoGardens offers garden models that adjust in height to accommodate standing or sitting individuals while being easy to use and maintain. These gardens are well adapted to small spaces (patios, porches, and rooftops) and require much less labor and body maneuverability to make them successful.

Considerations for container gardens include the following:

• Containers should be located for easy accessibility and close to a water source. NeoGardens are water sensitive that reduce the need to 25% of a traditional garden while offering recycling of any runoff.
• Planters can be either permanent or temporary structures in a room or outdoor area. NeoGardens are designed for portability and are attractive additions to any room for continual use and permanence.
• Using packaged soils from a local nursery easily controls poor soil or soil-borne disease. The cell structure of a NeoGarden offers gardeners a lot of diversity in soils used. Gardeners can easily “mix” soil types within the same garden since each cell creates it’s own growth center and the soil does not mix within the container.
• NeoGardens drain well and warm quickly, thus producing quick seed emergence and early crops. Their patented cellular design creates an optimal growing environment for most plants.
   

So as you or a loved one considers their gardening limitations, make container gardens your next step to gardening success. NeoGardens work season after season for your gardening enjoyment.

Special tools are available from many garden supply companies such as Gardener’s Supply (www.gardener.com), Charley’s Greenhouse & Garden (www.charleysgreenhouse.com) and Gardenscape Tools (www.gardenscapetools.com).

Adaptive gardening websites include:

www.arthritis-treatment-and-releif.com/arthritis-gardening.html

www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort