Universal Access

Well, my goodness, I suppose today is a particularly appropriate day to talk about one of the new things on which I've been working in my garden, ever so coincidentally (considering my mom's accident this week). I call it the Universal Access Garden, and it's modeled on far more beautiful elevated planting beds that I've seen both at the Oakhurst Community Garden and in gardening catalogs. Except I wanted to use readily-available materials that I already had, so I put that big crate-like thing I had found in someone's garbage a couple months back on two sawhorses and added clementine crates that I've been saving all winter. The kids at Open Garden secured the clemetine crates to the big crate with ribbons and added the soil.

The Universal Access Garden is specifically designed for those in wheelchairs or seniors and others who have mobility problems that make bending down to garden difficult. The kids at Open Garden and I have been talking about other ways we can design the Universal Access Garden to appeal to those with a wider range of disabilities. Some cool ideas include:

* Planting a specific herb in each little crate, along with other veggies, so that people who are blind can smell the herb and not only be able to idenfiy which crate it is, but also have a rich olfactory gardening experience.

* Adding some kind of sound sensor that lights up in reaction to noise such as children laughing, dogs barking and birds chirping so that people who are deaf can "hear" what is happening in the garden. (Does this exist?)

* Incorporating features such as sand and high-touch art features that can provide highly tactile experiences for those who respond particularly well to these kinds of elements.

* Adding a bench nearby for seniors who may not be able to stand for long.

* Planting crops and flowers that climb up the fence to provide visual interest and to make access easy. (This may be a good place for my loofah sponges as part of The Spa Garden!)

We talked about creating a path to this garden from my front driveway that would be wheelchair-accessible, and why certain materials, such as stones, might not be a good idea.

We talked about why gardening is a joy at any stage of life and with any physical or mental challenges, and how seniors and those with disabilities could be given access to many more experiences in life through simple adaptations. My hope is that seeing the garden through new eyes will help them (and me) see the world through new eyes. As it usually does.

And now, today, I think about my mother, and her new, hopefully temporary wheelchair (at least six weeks, however), and springtime here in Atlanta, and my garden. And I realize I have much to learn about when "the rubber hits the road."

And I am excited.