By Bob Mclaughlin

The proper term is not senior citizen, but older adult. Most older adults would certainly not fit the term, disabled, but many have difficulty getting up and down from the ground, walking or bending over. We hate the term, Elderly! As the years progress, there are certain challenges we can set for ourselves and have a great degree of enjoyment at the same time. One of these would certainly be gardening. Gardening is relaxing and can, for a little while at least, put you in another world. Everything else seems to vanish, or at least diminish greatly, if only temporarily. Those who experience a temporary or permanent disability know that life becomes an exercise in adaptation. The trick is to make the best use of your abilities along with the assistive equipment you’ll need. Strength, balance, eye-hand coordination, range of motion and endurance can all be challenged in the garden to just about any degree you want or not at all as the case may be. The best advice is …Start Small. If you are able to get down to the floor and up again without any assistance, many ground level gardening activities are appropriate. Be aware of your limitations and the tools that are available to keep the garden accessible to you  Kneepads, padded hand tools , gloves and a hat will protect your valuable abilities as long as possible. Use long-handled tools for ground level and some overhead tasks. How long you can comfortably stand on your own, with or without assistive devices, is important. The shorter the time, the more seating you will require. For the most part, know your limitations, respect them, and try not to let them hinder the refreshment you find in gardening. We plan to develop a series of lectures and demonstrations that will offer useful tips like planting a climbing miniature rose that will climb up as opposed to having to bend or stoop to tend them. Or, the use of container gardening to for a vegetables. The goal is to continue gardening. North Haven has an excellent selection of related books on the challenge of gardening to those with various physical (as well as emotional) challenges. One such book is, "The Enabling Garden" by Mr.Gene Rothert's The Enabling Garden” , by Mr. Gene Rothert’s, and a number of others can be found the North Haven book department. Watch future newsletters and calendar of events for more details on upcoming programs designed to help keep you in the garden.