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A garden brings beauty to your yard, provides healthy food for your table, and can be a rewarding hobby for your entire life. Mobility issues can make gardening a daunting endeavor. Fortunately, with some planning and a few modifications you can make your garden more accessible.

Here’s how:

1. Identify Your Mobility Issues
Each mobility challenge requires a unique solution. Before you can design an accessible garden you first need to create a list of mobility issues that you deal with. For example, wheelchairs require that a garden has a hard flat surface, wide rows and raised planters, while people with arthritis may need raised garden beds, tools that are easy to grip and use and possibly even a rail system to grab on to while gardening.

2. Select the Plants You Want to Grow
     Step 1: Identify your garden zone as well as the types of areas available for planting to determine sun and shade options.

     Step 2: Find out what plants grow well in your zone as well as with your sun exposure. Select a list of plants that you are interested in growing.

     Step 3: Consider each plant’s needs: does it require a lot of watering? Will you be able to reach all parts of the plant that will need attention? Does the plant require fine motor skills for picking fruit or negotiating thorns?

3. Design Your Garden Layout
In order to design a truly accessible garden, make sure you can navigate around (and through) your garden and ensure you can easily reach all your plants to weed, and water. If you have a wheelchair then you will want to design pathways that are wide enough.

You may also want to design a system of hanging planters to make gardening easier to do. This option is also viable for people who have a hard time bending over or who have balance issues. Installing a rail system is also a good and relatively inexpensive option for improving accessibility. There are many free garden planning tools available online like Better Homes and Gardens' Plan-a-Garden that can make this task easier.

4. Select Your Tools and Building Materials
Choose pavers for your pathways that will allow for even navigation. You can buy paver stones and cement paver tiles at home improvement stores and department stores for about $4 per 1.5-foot squares. These pavers are easy to lay down and will make the perfect foundation for your accessible garden. Next, choose the planters for your garden. These are available as stand-up planters or hanging planters and can be adjusted to a comfortable height.

There are many tools available that will make gardening easier. A great tool is a watering wand, which extends your reach and helps you to water your garden without bending over or contorting your body. Yardwork tools like rakes, hoes, trimmers and other devices will also help bring the garden within reach. Select tools that are lightweight and have easy-to-grip handles and spring-loaded triggers. Test out your tools before you buy them to make sure they are easy for you to handle.

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