Wheelchair accessible raised garden beds help wheelchair users or gardeners with difficulty bending to experience the joy of growing their own vegetables. The Vegtrug range of raised beds are an excellent choice for a wheelchair friendly garden as the 'V' shaped trough design allows the gardeners legs to fit under the unit thus giving easy access to the bed.
Wheelchair accessible gardening is also called adaptive or enabled gardening. Gardening in general has many physical and mental health benefits and why should the wheelchair user, elderly or infirm be excluded from them? We stock a broad range of wheelchair accessible raised garden beds and a selection of tools that make gardening that much easier. Our adaptive raised beds have been designed to help overcome the limitations in mobility that many face on a daily basis. They are also ideal for areas where space is an issue, like patios, balconies or smaller urban gardens.
Top Tips For Creating Wheelchair Accessible Gardens
Wheelchair accessible garden design
Design the garden around your own needs and abilities. Think about the gardens purpose and what fruit vegetables or flowers you intend to grow. Know how far you can reach into your work space and make sure raised beds are no more than twice this width (with access from both sides).
Situate the garden close enough so less energy is expended getting to and from it. Make sure the ground is level and obstruction free. Patio or decking areas are perfect as they are flat and usually close to the dwelling.
The path to the garden should be suitably wide with a wider turn around area at either end, keep it as near level as possible. The path itself should be firm; paving or tarmac are ideal.
Raised beds for enabled gardening
Raised beds need to be at least 2 feet high to be adaptive. Easy access table planters were made for wheelchair gardening, they have enough space for knees under the table part of the planter. Enabled gardening is not limited to raised beds, hanging baskets, containers and other planters are also ideal.
We recommend the 'Vegtrug' range of raised bed planters (pictured above) because the shape of the structure is particularly well suited to wheelchair use.
Soil and compost for wheelchair gardening
Use lighter soil as it will be easier to work and won’t require overly physical attention. We stock a broad range light growing mediums ideal for vegetable growing including relatively clean, easy to handle organic plant feeds.
Use a comfortable working position.
If you are working on beds without access for your legs always try and work to the side (over the arm rest). This requires less bending forward and less reach, and also prevents the chair from moving. Gardening should be relaxing after all, not an intensive workout.
Use and storage of tools.
Store tools, compost and garden equipment close to where they will be needed. These can all be stored close at hand and out of the rain right under our table planters.
There is an easier way to do everything. Tools can be customised to suit your needs, handles can be lengthened or cut shorter. The advantage of using light soils in beds at the correct working height is you will only need light, easy to use hand tools.
Cheat! We supply 4 week old vegetable plants to ensure a success first time around.
Use ready grown seedling plug plants if you're new to vegetable growing, you will have a much higher chance of success first time around. We supply a broad range of 4-6 week old vegetable plants which are are ideal to get a wheelchair accessible vegetable garden off to a head start. Growing vegetables from seed is also immensely satisfying with many plants well suited to starting life indoors. We also stock a comprehensive range of easy to manage seed propagators which can be used to begin your growing from the comfort of your home.
Let us help you get started.
We are always happy to help you create your dream garden, not matter what your level of mobility is. We are passionate about vegetable growing and know what a fun and satisfying pastime it can be. Vegetable gardening is not difficult, after all the plants just want to grow, all they need is a little help from you.
For some people heavy physical work like digging potatoes or growing full size crops had be difficult but that doesn't stop you from producing healthy and nutritious crops like lettuce, rocket, spring onions, radishes, beetroot, mini turnips and a whole host of other crops all of which can be grown from a simple raised vegetable planter like the Vegtrug or Vegi-Table planters.
Half the fun of gardening is showing off what you have grown. Have a bench or chair placed nearby so friends can admire your work, or have a nice shaded area to park the wheelchair in and enjoy it yourself.