Accessible Gardening: Practical Matters for Physically Challanged Gardeners #7, 1 by seacanepain

seacanepain wrote:
Hello, All. Computer troubles the last few days. Jim says he wants to hardwire the computers again. His older computer doesn’t like the wireless connection.
Well, Carrie. I’m sure you’ve heard that one about idle hands being the devil’s workshop. It sounds like your youngest DD should be safe. :-) Nadine has started working as a volunteer at the Rescue Mission Thrift Store. She is a very social animal and there aren’t as many people around as she is accustomed to since we aren’t open for business this growing season. It was her plan to only volunteer a day or two of her time a week. But most of the volunteers there are older and they are finding many uses for a strong, young back. :-) It will be interesting to see how long she lasts.
To the best of our collective knowledge, the dark leaf canna we sent is Canna indica purpurea. We debated among ourselves a long time over that one because the common name for it among elderly southerners is ‘Tropicana’ canna and it grows larger here than most authorities say it should. But, as Nadine’s picture above shows, the same can be said of many plants growing here. The flowers and rock-hard seeds leave no doubt it is an “Indian Shot” canna. I don’t know of any canna that has more cold tolerance than that one. They are the first up in the Spring and the last to go down in Winter. That is an interesting writing subject I think many people would appreciate. Are there canna especially bred for the north? My sister in VT says she misses canna lilies. She would love some to go near her backyard pool.
Jim constructed another raised bed for the Standing garden. He made it from a couple of old doors we had around and scrap lumber. He then covered it all with that relatively new sheet plastic product designed to resemble and be an alternative to sheets of tin as a roofing material. I had hopes for the product when I bought some to test. It was cheaper than tin sheets. There would be no rusting to worry about. It wasn’t completely opaque like tin. It gave a filtered light that ferns loved. It completely lacked tins durability though. Quickly becoming brittle and cracking easily in the Deep South version of direct sun. I will cover the outside of the raised bed in decorative concrete to keep it from direct sun using it only as a sub-surface water repellent material. We are hoping it will hold up and protect the wood on the inside of the planter, as is. All the stuff we used to make the planter is stuff we would have thrown away in our October clean-up if we hadn’t found a use for it so it is worth a try.
Nada, if the beautyberries are colored up they are ready for harvest, as far as I know. The infusion from the berries doesn’t taste good, but it improves dramatically when you add the sugar or other fruit juices. Tropical fruit and citrus taste best.
Debra, I wasn’t aware of some of those baptisia. I will be interested to hear how that works out. I recently sent Vickie a package, but I haven’t heard from her in weeks. I hope she is just out camping.
This time of year is our traditional time for re-thinking and revising. Deciding what worked during the last growing season and what didn’t. We are moving from a more individual, parallel approach back to a more communal way of working. I’ve been moving raised beds and plants out of what were individual plots and transforming what were specifically the Wheelchair Accessible and Standing gardens into one large communal garden where everyone works side-by-side and shares equally in the bounty. That system seems to work better for people with physical limitations because you can draw on one another’s strengths and compensate for one another’s weaknesses, like the way Jim and I work together. He is my eyes and I am his legs and back and we are able to move forward as a single entity. It requires trust and is not for those with ego issues, but it is the best system when you have the right group of people. Trying to emulate the way community gardens designed for T.A.P.s work was a mistake. (T.A.P.s=Temporary Able-bodied Persons—everyone experiences some degree of physical limitation, if they live long enough.) We are going back to the way we naturally did things in the beginning before we were labeled a “community garden” and were just a bunch of friends hanging together having fun while helping each other out. Kay*
Photo: Purple canna in flower.