Home Enabling Garden: Part III

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Adapt the Gardener - Selecting Tools and Equipment


By Gene Rothert

Man using long pruner to tend to flowers in overhead hanging basket
Man using long pruner to tend to flowers in overhead hanging basket
Simple hand clippers used on easy to reach garden beds
Simple hand clippers used on easy to reach garden beds

Woman using long pruner tending plants in a wider raised bed
Woman using long pruner tending plants in a wider raised bed
Wheelchair user watering plants in raised bed with a long stick-like hose attachment
Wheelchair user watering plants in raised bed with a long stick-like hose attachment

Arm shown using a tool to tend to plants
Man using long pruner to tend to flowers in overhead hanging basket
Wheelchair user pruning bushes with long tool
Wheelchair user pruning bushes with long tool

Woman sitting on portable stool to prune red flowers in a raised garden bed
Woman sitting on portable stool to prune red flowers in a raised garden bed
Man watering plants on a garden wall with stick-like hose attachment
Man watering plants on a garden wall with stick-like hose attachment

Woman tending flowers in 24 inch high round planter while sitting on a small lightweight portable seat 18
Woman tending flowers in 24 inch high round planter while sitting on a small lightweight portable seat 18

Ultimately, it is combining the right adaptations to the garden with the best adaptive tools and techniques that enables safe and comfortable lifelong gardening. Tools should be functional, yet comfortable when used properly, protecting muscles, joints, and abilities. However, selecting the best tools is very individualized with the goal being to strike a balance among a gardener's functional abilities, the extent of the other adaptations used in the design of the garden, and the type of gardening being done. For example, simple hand tools may be all that is needed if all the gardening spaces are positioned within easy reach of the hands. Wider raised beds and containers, overhead plants, and even some ground-level beds can be accessed with tools that extend reach. Sometimes, off-the-shelf garden tools found in the hardware store and garden center will be just fine as is or with minor adaptations such as shortening or padding a handle.

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 National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability