What exactly is a barrier-free garden? To find out, watch as we check-in with horticultural therapist, Gene Rothert, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He’ll show us how to build, plant, and maintain all sorts of container gardens which allow any amateur or avid gardener to enjoy the pleasures of vegetable gardening.
Featured Expert: Gene Rothert
Gene Rothert of Chicago, Illinois is a gardening expert, consultant, speaker, and writer on barrier-free gardens and horticultural therapy. He has worked at the Chicago Botanic Garden for 27 years focusing on horticultural therapy and managing the 11,000 square foot Buehler Enabling Garden, a garden for people of all abilities. Contact Gene at grothert@chicagobotanic.org
Click on a topic below to view additional information.
Enabling Garden
The Chicago Botanic Garden established the term “enabling garden.”
The Enabling Garden is a display garden that is primarily used for teaching. We use various gardening techniques and I have 70 volunteers whose job is to interact and direct the visitors to appropriate learning resources.
After a three year planning process, the Buehler Enabling Garden opened in July 1999 and is in its 6th season.
When embarking on setting up a barrier-free or enabling garden for individuals with mobility impairments see this site for helpful information.
Barrier - Free Gardening
A barrier-free garden makes a garden fully accessible to persons with disabilities and older adults by bringing the soil up to a comfortable working height.
A Barrier – Free Garden also includes a firm, level surface on which to use a wheelchair, cane or walker.
Horticultural Therapy
Horticultural therapy uses plants and plant-related activities as treatment for persons with mental or physical disabilities, or for rehabilitation training for individuals with developmental disabilities to qualify them for transitional employment.
The field of horticultural therapy is still in the early formative stages.
Health Care Gardens
The whole area of health care gardens is emerging. There are only a handful of these gardens. The vast majority are found in health care settings.
A Health Care Garden has 4 components:
It allows interaction with nature
It provides a sense of security and comfort
It provides the ability to move and get exercise
It fosters socialization (patients can interact with therapist and teachers)
Retirement communities and hospitals and other health care settings are trying to apply these principles.
A Health Care garden marks a division between the active and the passive.
There are many benefits of container gardening. This site lists several of the benefits.
Hanging Baskets
Baskets are suspended by pulleys
Mechanism is geared so that it requires less force to move the basket up and down.
Using a boat-trailer hitch gear system with pulleys works well.
You can put multiple baskets in the same systems or on individual cranks - depending on person’s strength.
There is an example of this in the Episode How to Do Container Gardening.
This web site offers further information on hanging baskets and how to succeed with them.
Pan beds
The pan beds at the Chicago Enabling Garden are made with stainless steel coated with rubberized paint. They are 6 inches deep, and have 3 different heights
The pan beds at the Enabling Garden are bolted to the brick on the side of a raised bed. They are supported underneath but also open underneath for wheelchair access.
You can make your own pan beds using marine exterior plywood which is rot resistant.
Use 6 inch deep box rectangular or square as long as the individual can reach all the way across.
Attach securely to a strong fence or wall using door hinges and a chain to suspend.
Raised Beds
Raised beds are bottomless boxes made of wood, brick or concrete, which contain large amounts of soil and are open for drainage below.
They bring plants to arm level for those who can’t easily kneel to cultivate, prune or do other gardening chores. They eliminate bending and stooping.
They also provide a ledge to sit on if the gardener is able to stand, but needs to rest often.
A height of 18-24 inches for raised beds will be easier for older gardeners and those with bad backs to work.
Raised beds can be built as part of the permanent landscape.
They can be made with decay-resistant wood such as cedar or marine plywood, or with brick or concrete block.
The beds should be 18-24” tall for a seated person and 24-30” tall for a standing person. They should be no more than 5 feet in diameter and width.
Vertical wall garden
The vertical wall garden is a self-contained structure and it is larger and more contained rather than having individual smaller pots.
Vertical wall gardens are particularly helpful to people using wheelchairs or those who wish to avoid bending and stooping. It is a simple way to provide significant additional growing and accessible space without taking away circulation, and is low maintenance.
In a vertical wall garden you can only grow very dwarf varieties of vegetables. Bush plants can be no more than 12 than 18 inches.
You can plant small transplants (not from seed) of shallow-rooted mounding and/or cascading varieties of vegetables or herbs that normally grow no more than 12 to 15 inches. You can try lettuce, spinach, dwarf varieties of cherry tomatoes, nasturtiums fennel, nasturtiums (edible flowers), and herbs such as rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme, parsley, basil, dill and chives.
Building a vertical wall garden
A Vertical wall garden is a custom-built wood framework attached to a sturdy wall or fence at an accessible height.
The bottom is a plank with drain holes added.
The side facing the gardener is lined with black 4-to 6 mil plastic sheeting.
The sheeting is covered and supported with a trellis frame backed with 2-inch square galvanized wire fencing.
The trellis is attached to the left side of the “box” with a piano hinge, which allows it to be swung open like a door for emptying.
The top of the wall remains open.
Planting a Vertical Wall Garden
Fill from the top with soil-less planting mix blended with time release fertilizer. This can be purchased at garden centers.
Cut a small hole through the plastic sheeting in each trellis opening to expose the soil. You can buy plastic sheeting at home stores or garden centers.
Insert transplants into each hole
Water well from the top. Gravity pulls the water to the bottom, sometimes the bottom may become over-watered. Check the soil daily to see if it’s dry. If so, water.
Container Gardening
If you have insufficient space, but have a window sill, patio, balcony or doorstep, you can still grow fresh, nutritious vegetables using containers.
Using containers allows you to overcome problems with soil-borne diseases, nematodes or poor soil conditions.
Containers are easy to move to position vegetables in the best possible growing conditions.
Learn more from this site which includes a table that shows a listing of some of the common container-grown vegetables, container sizes, and recommended varieties.
Learn more about many aspects of container gardening from this site. It includes information on how much soil is needed for different types of plants. The size of the container you chose will depend on the mature size of the plant it will contain. It also includes a list of suggested varieties for vegetable container growing, and the size container they will need.
Containers
For most vegetable crops such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, use 5-gallon containers. Most herbs can be planted in 6 – 10 inch pots.
Any well-drained container will work. These include: terra cotta or glazed clay pots, wooden boxes, bushel baskets, whiskey barrels or poly-molded containers.
You can purchase containers from home improvement stores or garden centers.
Avoid using polymers or anything that is toxic. Polymers leave a gooey jelly-like mess at the bottom of the container. We don’t use it in our gardens.
Soil
Do not use real soil, or the typical soil you would dig out of your garden, it is too heavy. This site tells how to make your own soil mix.
Use soil-less mix, which can be found in garden centers and home improvement stores. Add compost- either purchased or homemade.
Add a slow-release fertilizer (10-10-10 or 20-20-20) at planting time. All of these materials can be purchased at garden centers and home improvement stores.
Almost any vegetable that will grow in a typical backyard garden will do well in a container. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and parsley are ideal. Pole beans and cucumbers can be grown in containers but require more space because of their vining growth habit.
Before planting moisten soil in container with a mister bottle
Arrange plants in container, before removing them from their small posts, so you can see what they will look like. Place the tallest plants in containers in the back or in the center
When you remove the plant from its post loosen the roots before planting in the container garden.
Gently nestle the plant into place and cover roots with soil.
Water the container until water comes out the bottom of the container.
Check the soil daily and add water when dry. Large containers do not dry out as quickly as small ones.
Consider the position of containers. The tallest should go at the rear, the medium size goes in the centre and smallest at the front.
Bear in mind that the container above ground will dry up faster so it will need watering more frequently. The plants can act like an umbrella and channel the rainwater so it doesn’t always reach the roots.
Try to find a location that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight for your containers.
Tips from Gene Rothert on Container Gardening
Give it try. It is not a difficult thing to do. Because of our situation, we need help with initial setup but after that we are all set.
Don’t overdo it, start on a small scale.
Use the right tools.
Rest every few minutes.
Vary the tasks you’re working on so you don’t overuse certain muscles.
It’s better to spend a few minutes every day working in the garden, rather than several hours on one day. Gene recommends that you spend no more than ½ hour a day.
Try to use plants that don’t require a lot of care and maintenance.
Some people believe that containers are only good for green leafy vegetables. But if your container is big enough, there are no limits on what you can plant in container gardening.
Plant low-maintenance plants in hard-to-reach areas of the garden
Make sure pavement is level and firm to provide good traction at all times.
Use soaker hoses for hard to reach areas.
Plant dwarf or slow growing trees and shrubs that require less maintenance.
Keep hand tools tucked away at various locations in the garden to save steps.
Use levers on gate latches, doors and water faucets.
Use specially designed tools to garden with ease in traditional ground level beds. These include tools that extend reach such as long-handled watering wands, pruner, pickup sticks, etc.
Try and select plants to minimize pests and diseases so you don’t need to use chemical pesticides.
You can have more success in container gardening than working in the ground. You have more control over soil drainage and containers allow easier access to work in your garden.
Most important of all -- be sure to leave time to just sit and enjoy your garden.
