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 Imagine a vegetable garden that everyone can reach: one you don’t have to bend down to weed, that can follow the sun around in a small backyard and that won’t take up too much space. Impossible you say - think again! A group of people living in suburban Melbourne came up with a creative approach to gardening in small spaces.
They all love growing vegetables and herbs but not everyone could participate when they just had a conventional vegetable garden. To solve the problem they added a mobile vegetable patch. They turned an old hospital bed into a garden on wheels. The bed can be raised and lowered so everyone, including people in wheelchairs, can enjoy working in the garden.
Their local greengrocer provided polystyrene containers, which they filled with potting mix and then planted their vegetables and herbs. Hanging racks were hooked onto the bed to provide space for extra potted plants. This perfect garden, with an AAA access rating, can be easily wheeled around to follow the sun!
It was a great solution for Michele, Marianne, Shelly, Jimmy and Ashley, who have a disability and are supported in their home by staff employed by the Department of Human Services.
The garden is a joy to everyone and provides the ingredients for a lot of cheap and nutritious meals.
‘Our garden is coming along well’, says Julie, the supervisor responsible for supporting individuals in their home.
‘We’ve been eating lots of salad items - lettuce, cucumbers, basil, parsley, spring onions and also our zucchinis. We’ve made pesto from our basil and everyone loves it with their pasta. The tomatoes are looking good, but they’re not ripe yet. Unfortunately the strawberries were a failure. I think it was a bit too hot in the pots for them. We have plans for a potato crop next year, grown on newspaper and covered with straw and sheep manure. It is a very ‘no-dig’ way to grow them.’
So scan the papers for auctions and go in search of old hospital beds - you too can create your own ‘meals on wheels’!
> Read more articles on gardening and health.
> Find out more about Gardens on wheels
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