Episode 224: Making Gardening Accessible

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Roots and All, where my guest is garden designer, TV personality and Trustee of the Gardening with Disabilities Trust Mark Lane. Mark talks about the various types of challenges people can face that might impede their activity in the garden, and how gardens and gardening can be adapted to enable people to carry on with these activities. He gives some excellent, practical advice for anyone who may need to adapt horticulture to suit their own needs or those of others. Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Stridulation What We Talk About Is gardening one of the more tricky hobbies to modify if you find yourself less able? Why is it a good thing to keep on gardening? How many people in the UK are gardening with disabilities? What are some of the most common types of disabilities facing gardeners? Some of the biggest challenges you see come up time and again Helpful solutions Where can people go to get help to garden/grants? Where can designers and pro gardeners go to get guidance? About Mark Lane Roger Hirons has been a horticultural speaker for over thirty years, presenting to garden clubs and societies as well as the University of the Third Age and the Women's Institute. Since studying horticulture at Pershore College, he has also run and co-run plant centres and worked in the landscaping industry for nearly twenty years. Links Mark Lane Designs Gardening with Disabilities Trust Other episodes if you liked this one: Gardening by Touch, Smell, Sound and Taste with Andrew Hesser Stephen Hackett of Horatio’s Garden Patreon Membership