Accessible Gardening: Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners #18, 2 by Sansai87

Sansai87 wrote:
(Jim) Today I’m hijacking Nadine’s DG account. Hey, I paid for it and she isn’t using it. Just think of me as Sansai61.
Thanks for sharing those pix, Turtles. It gives me new ideas. I wonder if the lettuce growing in the rain gutter would work here. A section of rain gutter needs replacing soon. Lettuce is normally planted in late February here long before container planting in sun becomes almost impossible. Most of our containers are huge to survive in summer. I plant “funky foliage plants,” as Nadine puts it, in average size, full sun containers during summer. That translates into normal garden speak as succulents like sedums kalanchoes and a few hens-and-chicks. I guess I could plant some heat-hardy flowers if I were willing to water twice a day. To quote Nadine again, “Ain’t gonna happen!” I believe lettuce could work in sunny containers here up to about April and lettuce can thrive in dappled shade.
A 70-something lady gave me a recipe for using the lettuce made bitter by heat. It is sauteed and used like other bitter greens such as mustard. I’ll try that with the lettuce coming up in the kid’s roll-out vegetable garden. Hm-m-m, which is probably why it was on sale. I think it might be worth what I paid for it because it has some of the dwarf versions of summer veggies I’ve wanted to try. The dwarf cultivars are better for little hands and container growing in general.
Are you going to try one of the more unusual eggplants in your new bed, Turtles, or go with the tried and true? I went back to the common purple kind this year.
I put in new faucets in the vegetable garden and celebrated by trying out my new collapsible water hose. I like! I can hold a 75’ run of hose in one hand it is so light. It might not be as durable as rubber hose, but I had no trouble rolling it up and putting it in storage. The extra care it will require isn’t much of a hassle. I’ll be able to water my vegetable garden even on bad days when I have to use the w/c. I would have trouble rolling up 75’ of rubber hose even with a hose reel. (Jim)
Photos: 1) I like being able to control water flow without attaching a special nozzle or using my thumb. Nice feature. 2) Sedums show up in unexpected places come summer. The sedum in the strawberry patch kept fruit off the ground which is good. 3) Another daylily. There has been a lot of transplanting going on and I’m a little confused about which cultivar is where. This one looks like ‘Dragon’s Orb’