Useful Advice - Gardening Tips

These gardening tips have been given by gardeners with very poor sight. Some are enthusiasts whilst others prefer to potter, but each gardener enjoys their hobby and hopes that this booklet will encourage others to carry on gardening.

Getting About in the Garden

These ideas make it easier to find your way safely:

• Light the porch, steps and pathways.
• Paint the edges of steps and handrails in a contrasting colour.
• Use coloured garden furniture.
• Hang a wind chime to identify a particular spot.
• Keep the greenery cut back from paths and patios

When making major changes to the garden design think about :-

• Varied use of paving, gravel and bark chippings on pathways, so they feel different.
• Setting large pebbles in areas where it is dangerous to walk; for example under casement windows.
• Using hedging and fencing imaginatively so that each boundary feels different.
• Planting scented or varied texture plants at strategic places.

Safety

Look after yourself with these suggestions.

Protective Goggles

These should be worn when cutting or pruning and using any electrical equipment or chemicals. Wrap around clear goggles are ideal and fit over glasses.

Gloves

Wearing gardening gloves protects your hands and helps keep them clean, but can hinder the sensitivity of touch. So try cutting a slit just below the tips of the fingers, thus allowing free movement but still protecting the rest of your hands.

Power Breakers

All electrical tools should be used with a power breaker plugged in at the mains. Should the electrical lead be cut, the power will automatically be shut off. Prices from £20.

Mowers

Both Qualcast and Flymo make hover mowers with plastic blades.

Cane Toppers

An easy method to cover the top of a cane is to make a pad from old tights. Cut off the foot and stuff the toe end with the remainder, forming a firm ball. Put this ball onto the top of the cane, making sure the tip cannot be felt through the pad. Bind it onto the cane with white insulating tape. Small plastic drink bottles can also be used as cane toppers and will rattle in the wind.

Link Stakes

These are alternatives to bamboo canes. They do not have dangerous points and come in various sizes, but are more expensive.

Tools

Keep track of tools by marking them with bright colours. Try painting the handles or wrap coloured tape around them.

Carry and store small tools in a white bucket. For cheaper alternatives use ice cream tubs or make a compartmented bucket by taping a couple of large robust washing power containers together.

Wear an apron with pockets, some have knee pads attached. Something similar can be home-made from tea towels, if you can stitch fairly straight lines !

Weeding and Hoeing

Keep separate cans for watering and spraying weedkiller. To differentiate the cans choose a red can or a metal one or a distinctive shape for weedkiller use only.

Weed Spotters are angled pouring spouts with a clip-on mini-rose, that fit all popular watering cans. Useful for accurate spraying.

Touchweeders are like lipsticks to use. Twist the base to extend the solid stick weedkiller and lightly smear onto leaves. It cannot leach or blow onto flower beds and is unaffected by rain.

Plastic Milk Container Rings can be saved to put around freshly sown seeds or new plants to identify them from weeds.

Plastic Drink Bottles. Cut the top and bottom off larger bottles and use the centre as a protective collar around plants, so they will not be damaged when hoeing.

Watering and Feeding

These jobs are essential, especially for plants in containers.

Water Retaining Crystals will absorb many hundred times their own weight to form a gel for plant roots to draw upon in dry conditions. The crystals recharge with normal watering to give a permanent reservoir within the soil or compost.

Benefits include:-

• Less frequent watering
• Saves water
• Long lasting
• Permanent action
• Multi-use in garden and home

Self-Watering Pots. Water is stored in a hidden reservoir below the plants. Water is drawn up as required by capillary matting, so the plants never become waterlogged.

Plastic Drink Bottles. Cut off the base, and use the remainder as a funnel. Useful for watering or getting compost into containers around plants.

Make several pin holes half way down and in the base of small bottles, they can then be "planted" in containers and become a useful method of watering.

Slow Release Fertilisers are feed and "forget" fertilisers for flowers, fruit and vegetables. Available in a convenient tablet form, which can be used at any time. Place just below the surface. No further feeding is necessary, until next year. This continuous feeding gives excellent results.

Seeds and Seedlings

Some commercial products and home made alternatives that help.

Seed Sowers are small, plastic hand held sowers, which take all sizes of seeds. When full, the dial can be adjusted to ensure a steady flow of seeds down the spout. They are equally useful when sowing long rows or just a few seeds.

Seed Trays Available in various grades. It is advisable to purchase a reasonable quality, so that they are stable to carry, re-useable and easy to clean. Make a plywood template for seed planting. By drilling half inch holes a typical tray size will take 50 seeds. If sown far enough apart they will not require pricking out.

Peat Pots. Available in different sizes and shapes. As seedlings develop, their roots grow through the pot. Then the whole pot can be planted out. It will soon rot harmlessly into the soil. Cardboard egg boxes or toilet roll tubes make cheap alternatives. Plug one end of the tube with newspaper, fill with compost and sow the seed(s). Transplant the seedlings in their homemade container; again it will all soon rot away.

Jiffy - 7's are dry flat pellets of compressed peat which, when soaked in warm water for a few minutes, expand to an inch high. Make a small hole in the centre with a pencil and insert the seed(s). Like peat pots the whole thing is planted when ready.

They are also perfect for rooting cuttings. Soak a Jiffy-7, make a hole in the centre and pop in the cutting.

Roof Guttering. A spare length makes an ideal seed bed. Fill with compost and plant seeds. When transplanting, slide the compost from the guttering straight into a shallow trench.

Plastic Piping. A short length can be used for marking rows. The seed packet can be put inside with a stone on top to keep it dry. When the season is over they can be stored for next year.

Knotted String can be used to mark the exact distances between sowing seeds or planting seedlings. Decide upon the length between spaces required and tie knots in the string at these distances. Secure the string at both ends of the row and plant at each knot. Alternatively, use a piece of wood or pipe that has been cut to the length required. Use this as a gauge to plant evenly.

Cuttings

When potting-up, obtain a shallow cardboard box and use this as a tray to keep your work area clean and the compost tidy.

Plastic and Polystyrene Vending Machine Cups make ideal containers for cuttings. Drainage holes can be made by pushing a heated screwdriver through the bottom.

Plastic Drink Bottles. Cut a large bottle just below the top and use the remainder to cover tender plants to protect from frost.

Mulches

There are basically two types of mulches, cocoa shell and bark.

Cocoa Shell Mulch & Fertilizer is a by-product of chocolate manufacture. An effective material which has many benefits:-

• Suppresses weeds
• Improves soil structure
• Increases available nutrients
• Repels slugs and snails
• Retains moisture
• Gives frost protection
• Gives an attractive, decorative finish to beds and borders.

Bark Mulches are also effective, giving the same benefits. They rot slowly and will last for many years. The mulch stays in place, even in heavy rain.

Publications

Gardening Without Sight. A booklet packed with practical ideas gained from personal experiences, covering techniques from planting seeds to pruning. Recommended for everyone interested in gardening. Available in large print, braille or tape for £2.50 from :-

R.N.I.B. Customer Services
P.O. Box 173
Peterborough
PE2 OWS

Telephone: 0345-023153:

Gardening Magazines on Tape:

• Amateur Gardening (weekly)
• BBC Gardener's World (monthly)
• Garden Answers (monthly)
• The Garden RHS (monthly)
• Which Gardening (monthly)
• Homes and Gardens (monthly)

These are available from :-

The Talking Newspaper Association
National Recording Centre
Heathfield
East Sussex
T N21 8DB

Telephone: 01435-866102

Any number of magazines can be ordered for an annual subscription of £15.

Come Gardening.
If you are registered partially sighted or blind, for a £3 annual subscription you can receive this quarterly magazine.

Consisting of seasonal information, hints and tips and product news on all aspects of gardening. Available in large print, braille, tape and moon. Subscribers also have free access to the Cassette Library for the Blind.

A wide range of information is available, including extracts from Royal Horticultural Society Handbooks and other specialist books.

Contact:

Horticultural Therapy
Goulds Ground
Vallis Way
Frome
Somerset
BA 11 3DW

Telephone: 01373-464782

A Garden For You

The Disabled Living Foundation, have published a practical guide to tools, equipment and design for older people and people with disabilities. It outlines traditional tools and methods and describes alternatives and adapted tools - that can make gardening easier and more enjoyable. It includes a chapter for people with a visual impairment.

Available from:

D.L.F.
380-384 Harrow Road
London
W9 2HU

Cost £5.95 including post and packaging.