Gardening as a 66-year old Polio survivor

Great Dave, it sounds like you have a good thing going with your new yard and mobility. I posted the SFG link because I was just thinking that others reading the thread may be looking for more convenient and efficient ways to garden than the traditional methods. It sounds like you are getting lots of spuds and good results all round.

For my mom, SFG with raised beds enabled her to keep gardening and also encouraged her to plant and enjoy a wider variety of plants in less space with less work. It's an interesting theory/method, I think, and probably SFG is the route we will try when we get going on the vegetables. 'Less work' appeals!

BTW--USC really solidified their #1 ranking, didn't they?! Even though SC is our 'other' alma mater and our heart is mostly with ND, it's hard not to be impressed with what the Trojans did last night. Norm Chow is a genius on offense.

Keep looking for those Christmas trees! If you've got the honeysuckle and the serviceberries planted by spring you will have no need for them, though!

Take care. t.

Thank you for the interesting and informative thread. I'm a Master Gardener who does the phone hotline thing and I have gotten several requests for info for restricted movement gardening. ( I don't like the terms disabled or handicapped.) I'll pass on some of the comments and suggestions you have made. Jessamine

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:50 PM

dwdruley---- So there you are ! Don't worry ! Just open disabled gardener forum. We'll see it.

How'd you pull that off?

I've been dying to hear if you ever got your power chair. End my suspense and tell me.

Tplant, that's two separate questions.

Nope ! I went to a chiropractor and I'm feeling a lot stronger but I know, eventually, I must use one.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:57 PM

Click the top of this page to FORUMS and when it lists all go to Disabled Gardeners and click it. Hope this answers your question ?

Click the top of this page to FORUMS and when it lists all go to Disabled Gardeners and click it. Hope this answers your question ?

P.S> What happened to disabled gardener forum ? I don't see it listed !!! Use General Discussion instead...

It may have been closed due to lack of participation. Periodically, the admins review stats on how much traffic various forums get, and close some. They can be brought back if there is sufficient interest, and you can request certain active threads from them be moved to other forums.

Dave, I'm glad to se this thread, and I've just read it from top to bottom. Some of it applies to me but not all. I was diagnosed with COPD just recently, and have to have oxygen for almost any activity.

While I am able-bodied, I don't get enough O2 to my muscles to support much effort so I'll have to learn to garden all over again in a different manner. (Actually I'm what they call a CO2 retainer, meaning I retain too much CO2 on exhale to make enough room for new O2.)

I am looking at the Earthboxes but unless I can get qualified for Medicaid, they will have to wait. (I have no insurance.)

A year or two ago on DG someone posted a hose reel (up to 200 feet of hose) that self-winds from water pressure and then the excess water drains out into a designated flower/vegetable bed. Sounds workable to me.

I think it was dwdruley and it sold for about $90.00.

I checked out that self-winding hose and this is what I came up with:
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/71186.asp

It might be useful in a few years. One thing is clear - ole man time affects us all and providing for that eventuallity to some degree makes logical sense for everyone.

..

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:52 PM

Dave, that's depriving many of us of your experience. Just because that Forum was closed doesn't mean posts from Disabled Gardeners aren't appreciated and helpful here.

Yes, that's true. There are other places where related posts can be made. The fact that the forum got so little traffic indicates it was not a good place for the majority of folks to see the contents. Some specialty forums do great, others don't. It's nothing personal when they don't.

Darius, your using earthboxes actually sounds like a great idea. That way, even if you should have to move again, you could more easily take your garden with you!!!

I also know that, if you could manage to buy one, or even get the specs, you could build your own as you need them! You're so talented in building things! They aren't that complicated for someone like you to build yourself!

Just my silly 2 cents!

Hugs!

Thanks, Judith! I looked at the site for making your own EB's that Pete2 posted (on another thread) but they are lacking in size. I need a real one to study.

Ooh, I got an ad from them a few days ago, but they won't really work for me, so I read it and threw it away. Try "earthbox" on the web. The info I got seemed to explain a lot about how it was made.

Sorry, they're too heavy for us to use. I sure hope you can find info about them. If not, LMK, and I'll help you look.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:56 PM

Dave, unfortunately, I have nothing to post in a new thread because as yet I have no experience gardening with a handicap. No insights, no great tips, no wonderful tools...

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:58 PM

Hey Guys: Since this is kind of a new subject for me why don't you address the topic as a learning site. I am totally ignorant of the subject and giving info to people who have problems while I am relatively sound (I do have Fibromyalgia, if that counts) seems pretty arrogant to me. I know about narrowing the beds and widening the pathways, but what about raised beds? What height is best? 24 or 30 inches? What about growing the potatoes in a plastic compost bin with holes in the sides? Is the plastic easier than using heaps of straw to grow the potatoes? ( I love that one, moving straw is pretty easy and if you step on it, you don't slide). What kind of surfaceing should be on the path to make it easier to get from here to there? Is a certain layout better than another? Are there any groups that can assist in getting the structure started or is it up to you to do that on your own? Seems to me that MGs or garden clubs or 4-H might have some sort of program there. But how do you get ahold of the right people? Are plans available? Are funds available? Jessamine

Jessamine, what good questions! Thanks... maybe someone will have a few answers...

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:56 PM

Okay, Dave, I shall watch for occasional new threads by you... and others.

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Threads, like conversation, stray from the main topic occasionally. It's just natural, and the nature of conversation with others. There's nothing wrong with just asking that it stay on topic if the wanderings bother you in a thread you've started.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 2:53 PM

I did see that. And then later you posted "Thought you'd like to see a picture my Son took with his new $19 .5 (1/2) MP camera that is the size of a book of matches and which he wears on his key chain." And things quickly got back on track. Guess I don't see what all the hubbub's about and if it's worth sore feelings.

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This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 11:45 AM