Gardening as Therapy:
Creating Places for Senior Gardeners
From the Detroit Garden Center Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 1, Spring 2003
As we mature or find ourselves with special needs, the desire for the beauty
of a flower doesn't fade... but the way we produce it may change. Whether you're
facing arthritis, limited site, chronic pain or other physical challenge, or losing
some motor skills necessary in the ups and downs of gardening, we've captured some
helpful information for you.
One of the discussion topics at the DGC January 18 Winter Gardening Series was
Accommodating Older and Less Able People in a Garden. Master Gardener and DGC member
Ed Krappmann enthusiastically shared practical information including his most useful tool:
your ability to say "I can figure a way to do that better."
Here are some of Krappmann's tips and ideas:
- Garden just 15-30 minutes a day; add more time as you grow stronger and manage better.
- Wear a back-support belt, available at sport shops.
- Alternate repetitive task like dead-heading with less demanding tasks; switch
hands often; switch positions often.
- Start with a small project; add more as your situation permits
- If you can't lift it, roll it or slide it on a sheet of cardboard or tarp. If no
one can move it, hide it with lattice or vines.
- Barter flowers or veggies with neighbors and friends in exchange for heavy digging,
lifting or whatever is beyond your present skill.
- Cook a vat of chili, spaghetti, or pizza and invite friends over to help weed
or prune. P.S. No eating til the work is done
- Lay things out so you can reach everything without over-stretching.
- Locate the garden near the house and water supply.
- Use light-weight tools to extend your reach.
- Avoid messy trees and shrubs that create litter or need frequent pruning.
- Use a wagon or cart to carry tools with you; use a wheeled garden stool for sitting.
- Take frequent breaks and admire your work; your garden is there to serve your needs
not for you to serve it.
- Use a drip irrigation system and timer, especially when on vacation.
- Wear a hat in the sun; don't wear scents of flowered prints.
- Weeds pull out easier from moist soil.
- Keep a cordless phone with you in the yard.
Not only the loss of physical ability, but loss of space in which to garden becomes
a challenge to some. Mature gardeners may move from a home where their physical garden
was located. Tara Griffith, a Master Gardener and recent graduate from the University of Michigan
School of Social Work, shares her enthusiasm with a group of community gardeners in
Ann Arbor. Originally known as Project Grow, an Ann Arbor community garden since the
1970s became a children's garden in 1997. It's now known as the Wise Roots Senior Garden.
According to Griffith, who is also the Wise Roots Volunteer Coordinator, a veteran
group of gardeners came with their knowledge and love of the soil. Spontaneously, an inter-generational
garden was created. But as the "wise-ones" brought their knowledge and love of gardening
to Wise Roots, there were other restrictions, primarily on the physical end of the spectrum.
There now is a sliding-scale fee for seniors to participate in the garden. More than 30 seniors, most of whom live in smaller spaces and don't have the room to garden as they once did, congregate weekly to share what they've learned from their years in the garden. They share with other seniors and also with younger people working the space. As part of a senior outreach program, such as Neighborhood Senior Services, individual seniors adopt a bed and if they can, donate $35 a year to work the garden. The garden has a community tool shed and is always open when anyone wants to work or check out the fruits of their labor.
Griffith finds a wealth of ability in Wise Roots. "There's a real mix of garden knowledge and personaalities. The inter-generational blend of older adults with children of all ages is wonderful." Griffith adds, "In one area there's a man in his 90s sharing knowledge while last year another man in his 80s started his new hobby in gardening." Griffith works with the group as as avid fan. A satelite versiobn of Wise Roots gegan in Ypsilanti last year.
Here are some hints from Tara Griffith and the Wise Roots Senior Garden:
- The beds are all 6x4 ft. and range in height from knee to waist high. Used are a
combination of construction materials for the raised beds: pine or cedar (which can be
expensive) untreated scraps, and a recycled material from wood pulp and plastic
called Trex.
- The favorite "adaptable tool" is the kneeler bench that allows seniors to
sit comfortably at the tall raised beds or kneel at the lower beds. It folds up
easily and takes up little space in the shed. They are in the $30 range.
- Gardenscapes of Canada offers a tool catalog with many adaptable tools (including
the kneeler bench). Find them online at www.gardenscape.com
- Helpful books for senior gardeners or folks interested in starting a senior garden
include: Accessible Gardening: Tips and Techniques for Seniors and the Disabled
by Joann Woy, Stackpole Books. The Able Gardener: Overcoming Barriers of Age and
Physical Limitation by Kathleen Yeomans, R.N., Garden Way Publishing, and Enabling
Garden: Creating Barrier Free Gardens by Gene Rothert, HTR, Taylor Publishing (available
in the DGC Library).
- Books recommended for inspiration: Green Nature Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants
in our Lives by Charles Lewis, University of Illinois Press, and Horticultural
Therapy and the Older Adult Population by Suzanne E. Wells, MS Editor, Hawthorn Press.
Griffiths also is a board member for the Michigan Horticultural Therapy Association and invites those interested to attend their upcoming annual conference, "Cultivating Horticultural Therapy in Michigan," Friday, March 7, 2003. Part of ANR week at MSU East Lansing, the MHTA conference will be in the Plant & Soil Sciences Building. For a brochure with all the details, contact Cathy Leavey, HTR at 517-655-4969 evenings or leavey123@aol.com; David Houseman at 517-627-3907 days/evenings or creative@acd.net; or John Murphy at 616-345-6039 evenings.
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