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Gardening is pleasurable enough in itself for many people, and for someone living with sight loss it can also be a great confidence-booster.
This page is an attempt to gather information to help blind and partially sighted gardeners make the most of their interest. Even if you can't see too well, gardening can engage many other sensations, and I hope to explore those. There are also sources of practical advice and the experiences of other blind gardeners.
This is a UK-based page, so please bear that in mind when using it. A good start for UK readers is to investigate Thrive, a great organisation for any disabled gardener.
PDF files require Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader or some other program that can handle PDF format. Recent versions of the reader software let you zoom the document window, and the Adobe Reader has a 'read out loud' facility. If you use a screen reader, you should be able to read most, if not all, the documents I list here. Some PDF files, however, are not properly formatted to work with screen readers.
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Every local council in the UK has to provide a proportion of allotments according to the size of the population. Your local Council may have a specialist Allotments Officer. The Council may refer you to its own allotments or a local Allotment Society.
Allotment & Garden Guides - Ministry of Agriculture
Allotment growing for allotment holders and gardeners
Allotments UK - sources of information, advice and experience on allotment gardening
Hens on Allotments in the UK - hen-keeping is allowed on all Council allotments in England and Wales. Hens on allotments in Scotland
Links here are to Amazon, but you can use the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) to search for them elsewhere if you wish.
Able to Garden by Peter Please. Pub. Batsford, 1990. ISBN: 0713461373. The success of horticultural therapy.
Accessible Gardening: Tips and Techniques for Seniors and the Disabled - by Joann Woy - ISBN: 0811726525. Making gardens easier, advice on tools and low-maintenance plants, raised-beds, watering and pest-control, paths inclines and railings, and the benefits of gardening.
Gardening: an Equipment Guide (Equipment for Disabled People) by F. Walden. Pub. Disability Information Trust, 1997. ISBN: 187377317X
Grow It Yourself: Gardening with a Physical Disability by Roddy Llewellyn and Anne Davies, pub. Cedar Books. 1993. ISBN: 0749314311. Planning, tools and low-maintenance plants.
Landscape Design for elderly and Disabled People - Jane Stoneham and Peter Thoday. Pub. Garden Art Press , 1999. ISBN: 1870673204. Mainly aimed at professionals in the care and design fields who plan for these "clients".
Grow It Yourself: Gardening with a Physical Disability by Roddy Llewellyn and Anne Davies, pub. Cedar Books. 1993. ISBN: 0749314311. Planning, tools and low-maintenance plants.
Audible is one of the largest purveyors of downloadable audio books. titles include "An Evening with Alan Titchmarsh" and ""Spiritual Gardening: Cultivating Love through Caring for Plants"
T N A U K - Talking Newspapers and Magazines - provides national papers and magazines on tape and in digital formats, including mp3 and DAISY. The choices on offer include gardening titles. Subscriptions start at £30 a year, and you can buy in more publications if you want.
Amazon: new items tagged 'disability' 'gardening'
anAurora: the quarterly Internet Magazine for the disAbled Woman includes gardening tips and features.
Blind Seniors Garden Too -= Pat Munson recounts her life learning the techniques and pleasures of gardening.
Carry On Gardening - practical information about gardening with a disability. The site has a section on tools for easier gardening, and ways of contacting other disabled gardeners.
Come Gardening - quarterly magazine for visually impaired gardeners, published by Thrive in the UK. Download a free copy (Word format).
Digging in the Dirt: Container gardening from Fred's Head Companion.
Elisabeth's Garden - Tips for Disabled Gardeners - includes raised beds, various gadgets that make gardening easier for some disabled gardeners.
EnableLink: Article: Green Thumbs: Gardening with a Vision Disability
Fred's Head Companion - tips and techniques for and by blind or visually impaired individuals.
Garden Forever - "Gardening for people of all ages, abilities and lifestyles. If I could have but one wish it would be to garden forever."
Gardening for blind or partially sighted people - what's on offer at thrive.org.uk.
Gardening for Young Visually Impaired or Multi-Impaired Children
Gardening for Disabled Trust - voluntary trust that gives advice and grants so that people can carry on with gardening when they have a disability. The Trust runs the Garden Club, which published a newsletter 3 times a year. Subscription £5 individuals, £12 groups.
Gardening Tips - advice from Kent Association for the Blind.
Gardening without sight - booklet in the RNIB archive that you can read online. Based on 'A Manual For Blind Gardeners'.
Getting On with Gardening - introductory leaflet about the national gardening services in the uK supported by Thrive and RNIB.
Introductory Information for Blind Gardeners - this is a leaflet from Thrive in PDF format.
National Blind Gardeners' Clubs, where people can share experiences and pick up information and advice.
Planters, Containers, and Raised Beds for Accessible Gardening
Purdue University: Gardening for the Blind: Tips for People with Impaired Vision
R N I B Home-based Leisure Activities includes gardening.
Seeing with Other Senses: Gardens for the Blind - an overall introduction with examples of some blind gardeners and places in the USA that have blind-friendly gardens.
Susan Tomlin's Disabled Gardening Page - out of date, but some good ideas.
The Accessible Friends' Network: Container Gardening Page by Sue Pallett. Please note that TAFN are undergoing a major site reconstruction at present (March 2007), so you need to keep checking back on the latest situation at tafn.org.uk/.
Tips for Blind Gardeners from NFB, Idaho.
Able Gardener - based in Perth, Scotland, they stock a range of clothing, tools and gadgets for gardeners.
Benefitsnow Shop Gardening - gardening section.
Crocus.co.uk - over 4,000 plants to choose from. You can search for the plants you want using a search facility that actually works! Other gardening materials and equipment are also available from the site.
Disabled Living Foundation - you can search here for products to make life easier, including gardening accessories. Helpline 0845 130 9177
Garden Tools for All Seasons - Disabled Gardening - the focus here is on gardeners with physical disabilities, but some of the tools listed here may be useful for anyone who doesn't want to strain themselves in the garden!
PETA Easi-Grip (UK): Ergonomic Tools, Arthritis Aids and Assistive Devices carry a range of tools for use in the kitchen and garden. Their video presentation may or may not be useful to some blind people.
The Urban Garden - the idea is to supply stylish items for small spaces. Furniture, planters, structural items and some things to help you be eco-friendly.
The definition of horticultural therapy is "the process which uses plants, horticultural activities and the natural world to promote awareness and well-being by improving the body, mind and spirit. Horticultural therapy is universal, adaptable and validated by research."
- from " Plants Can Heal", an article on EnableLink
Gardening offers variety of therapeutic effects - the author was inspired by the benefits of horticulture at a school for blind students.
Horticulture: Meeting the Needs of Special Populations - explores people-plant interactions and tries to clear up the confusion about what horticultural therapy is.
Human Issues in Horticulture - articles on therapeutic gardening, community and children's horticulture.
Why Horticulture Therapy? - Beverly Gillies gives her personal reasons for finding horticultural therapy a better idea than day care and physio.
About.com Gardening Page - start here to find a fund of gardening information, and look out for free courses by e-mail.
BBC Radio 4 In Touch, 29 November 2005 (audio requires Real Player or Real Alternative). The programme includes an item on the first Blind Gardener of the Year Competition.
FCFCG (Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens) - the site includes places to visit.
Help the Aged produce a leaflet on gardening, available in PDF and plain text formats. Help with PDF format
Mini Gardening - gardening in small spaces. Growing vegetables in anything from a box to a small plot.
Patrick J. Collins Unconventional Habits - Blind Gardening - they're playing our tune! Direct access to movie file (Quicktime format) - A page created by singer/songwriter Patrick J. Collins.
Purdue University, Indiana has a range of agricultural leaflets in PDF format, some of them suitable for the home gardener. The PDF files are accessible to screen reading software.
Shoot - a general gardening site, with plant finder, seasonal hints, examples of expert and not so expert gardens.
Square Foot Gardening - no work (oh yes?) organic gardening using small raised beds. You might find the technique of spacing plants on a grid system helpful. The Global Gardening section describes projects in several countries that involve gardening with particular groups of people, including blind people. The squarefootgardening Yahoo! Group is sort-of connected. You may also like to join the Ft2 community Site News feed for new Amazon items on Square Foot Gardening
Wildlife gardening - Ten tips for a wildlife garden and dozens of recommended plants.
Blind Gardener Yahoo! Group - a place to discuss gardening with newcomers and experienced gardeners all over the world. It's easier to join via e-mail than try to sign up at the web site because of Yahoo's visual verification system, which is a nightmare for visually impaired people. To join the group, send a blank e-mail to blind-gardener-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Blind Gardeners mailing list on Topica - Subscribe to Blind gardeners list on Topica - not sure whether this is still active. Don't enter a subject or any body text in your e-mail when you're trying to subscribe.
Gardening Organically Yahoo! group.
GardenGuides Forums several forums and a chat room, garden links.
There are many forums on GardenWeb, including:-
Gardening Forum on ChatEVO!
Square Foot Gardening - People who work the earth a foot at a time! Making the most of small spaces.
Therapeutic Gardening - a Yahoo! group.
A sensory garden is a garden specifically created to be accessible and enjoyable to disabled visitors. It will often, for example, contain features accessible to the blind such as: scented plants, sculptures and sculpted handrails, water features designed to make sound and play over the hands, textured touch-pads, magnifying-glass screens, braille and audio induction loop descriptions. Most sensory gardens devote themselves only to enhancing the pleasure taken in only one or two senses; those specialising in scent are sometimes called scented gardens. There is usually wheelchair access on the paths into and through a sensory garden.
- from Wikipedia
Around the Widex Hearing Garden - this winner of the RHS Hampton Court Garden Show Small Garden competition contained many examples of garden sound.
BBC News Feed for 'sensory garden' - get the latest stories.
Blooming good idea to make most of gardens - engineers in Bath, UK, are working with rehab workers to build a 'sensory garden armchair' to enable those with restricted mobility to make the most of sensory garden experiences.
BUPA Community Connections: Sensory Gardens - a gardening project designed to engage members of the local community, relatives, residents, friends and staff in the creation of new sensory gardens for 59 of BUPA's care homes.
Create a sensory garden at school - a guide from the Royal Horticultural Society that aims to get you started. The file is in PDF format.
Garden in North Augusta allows everyone to enjoy spring renewal - N. Augusta Sensory Garden
Growing a 'Garden of Five Senses' - "We knew we wanted to have a garden for all the senses, not just for the blind."
Nanjing Botanic Garden - The Largest Botanical Garden for Visually-Handicapped People in China
New sensory garden in Epping Forest BBC Essex report with audio clip (audio requires RealPlayer or Real Alternative).
Nine of the Best Sensory Plants from This is Lincolnshire. How to fill your garden with pineapple, chocolate and furry leaves.
Noahs Ark Sensory Garden Pages - principles and purpose of sensory gardens, how to create and plant your own, choice of plants. The site is mainly about wildlife, and of course wildlife makes a valuable contribution to the senses. WARNING: the context menu (or right mouse button option) is not allowed on this site, which may mean some people using some assistive technology could get lost.
Saying it with Flowers - Kingsbrae Gardens, ST Andrews, Scotland, appeal to every sense, including the sense of fun.
Sensory Garden Flowers seeds from Mr Fothergill's Seeds.
Sensory Trust - a UK charity that works to encourage accessible public spaces. Visit their Sensory Garden Design Advice Pages
Stoneycroft House Sensory Garden Project - this is part of a residential home for people with disabilities in the North Lincolnshire countryside.
The Sensory Garden Project, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.
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