DATE:    12/17/98
WRITER:  Bob Polomski, Extension consumer horticulturist,
         (864) 656-2604
EDITOR:  Giles Singleton,(864) 656-3876

Physically Handicapped People
Can Enjoy Gardening   
   
     CLEMSON -- I have a neighbor whom I admire very much. He
holds down a full-time job and still finds time to garden. What
makes him so special is that he uses a wheelchair for mobility.
     Physically handicapped people who love gardening or who want
to begin gardening can have beautiful gardens of annual and
perennial flowers, fruits and vegetables. They can garden in a 
small, raised bed.   
     The many kinds of raised planters make this type of
gardening readily adaptable to a person with physical
limitations. Planters can be located for easy accessibility and
used in areas where plants would not otherwise grow   like patios
or other hardscaped environments which do not allow large areas
to be cultivated.    
     The planter can be placed at a height that gives the maximum
gardening space within normal reach. Raised planters can be
either permanent or temporary structures depending on your
desires and needs. Planters can be built to be mobile if needed,
to adjust to available sun or to move out of the way during other
activities.    
     Seedlings can be started in small mobile planters indoors
and brought out when the weather is appropriate, so they produce 
early crops and extend the growing season.
     Also, problems of poor soil or soil-borne disease can be
easily overcome.    
     In addition, planters offer opportunities for innovative
landscape ideas and creative plant structures such as walls or
espaliers of plants. 
                 ******************************
     If you have questions or comments on gardening-related  
issues, write to PSA News & Publications, Box 340311, A-101 Poole
Ag Center, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C. 29634 -0311. You
might also want to check out other "Buds and Blooms" columns
under News Releases at:
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/agcomm/.
                             END