Gardening Support

How one couple changed their lifestyle to live below their means
ABC 9th July 2023

Comment

Thank you for sharing this inspirational story of survival in harsh economic times.

More so highlighting the absolute importance of starting or continuing to grow a sustainable garden not just for the obvious demonstrated benefits for better physical and mental health, but also for budgeting and economical survival.

In relation to HCPs its therefore necessary to adapt this concept as a necessary tool for the health and wellbeing of recipients.

It's inconceivable that the narrow mindedness in excluding raised garden beds to make such valuable activities possible, is on the list of excluded items in the guidelines!

It is to so many just as important as taking care of a pet, or pursuing any social and wellbeing activities, or even some other essential goods and services, which would be unaffordable otherwise and many would go without.

This is the basis of keeping older people at home comfortably for as long as possible, which in turn is the purpose of the HCP funding while providing great savings to the ever growing aged care budget.

What's important for one person may not be for the other and vice versa, we are individuals not a herd of cattle. M.O.

I used to be able to tend my garden, and due to reduced ability as I age, and also arthritis, for the healing ambience it creates, the pleasure and relaxation it gives me, I like growing beautiful flowers, interesting plants like desert roses, and my Ferber that I can enjoy from four rooms of my house, as well as being my sheltered outdoor sitting area. It also provides a sustainable healthy food source - herbs and vegetables.
The aged care reforms and the latest guidelines manual has listed many gardening activities as exclusions. Also my husband does hydroponics to grow our vegetables. It is at waist height so that he can continue doing this, as he cannot bend, and is in constant severe pain. Cit is his only interest. Our provider will bevunable to continue providing what is needed to enable us to continue our gardening, both materials, and support workers to do the parts that we are unable to do. We are heartbroken. Our provider is forced to refuse any such requests, which were previously ok.
Excluding any such important gardening accessibility from the HCPs is impacting our lives, health and well-being both physical and mental, and is taking away our enjoyment from our lives. We have both always been keen gardeners, and find it very therapeutic to grow a vegetable patch and enjoy the health benefits of consuming freshly picked organic home grown crops, but can no longer access them on the ground, but can be able to continue this beneficial activity if the garden bed is raised and watered through special irrigation that doesn’t require standing and watering with a hose. And being provided with any number of necessary tools and/or services that would make it possible for the older person to engage in gardening therapy. These exclusions regarding gardening are impacting our lives, health and well-being, and do not know how either of us will cope without the sense of well-being our gardening has always given us, and which the government is now cruelly denying us. If we’re under the disability support we had previously been on, this would still be approved for us. It is so opposite to the stated aims of the Aged care reforms. VS

Comments & Discussion

”Gardening is so important to me. I can't stand for more than a few minutes so do most of my gardening sitting down, using long handled tools. I use a plastic chair I can easily move around, and a bucket for weeding. I have one raised garden bed that is close to the door and has parsley and herbs, so very handy and easy to weed. Now I will no longer be able to get those tools, chairs (they don't last very long), raised garden beds etc. It may seem like a small amount to pay for, however on a pension every dollar counts, and my provider and OT had approved them as necessary until now. Why on earth should this change?"
ST

”The ground is a long way away when you can't bend. A raised garden bed makes accessibility so much easier and should be able to be funded in Home Care Packages."
CB

"My husband and I have always loved our garden, working out there has provided us with gentle, enjoyable and productive exercise. Fresh vegies and fruit, with no chemicals must have helped us stay fit at 77 and 86. But we have reached the time when arthritis and general ill health have stopped us doing the heavy work. But anything other than cutting the grass has been banned! No pulling out if spent plants, no trimming back of overgrown tree and shrubs. No pride in the presentation of our home. Such a large part of our mental and physical stimulation has been turned to embarrassment that our beautiful garden is turning into a wilderness. This is the start of a spiral into depression and an invalid's life. Living in a tiny community, with no public transport, our garden has been a huge part of our lives. It would not take much time weekly, by a fit young person, to maintain it in a condition where we could handle it ourselves. Not much to ask, for all the benefit we would gain from it, but at least the grass gets cut. Funny how that makes the rest look even worse. It's this kind of thing that starts the thoughts of packing it all in, and moving into one of those "homes" for the elderly. Watching our pride and joy become overgrown and wild is the final straw."
Zena L.

"I approached my hcp provider about getting raised garden beds.??? Why would you need them??? Uhh extreme vertigo. I bend over too much and kiss the ground. Too much bending brings on migraines. All documented by OT reports which they required. Then don’t seem to read. I just love gardening but need to do it at a higher level than I used to. It’s not a necessity apparently"
AB

"I have an above ground vege garden that was approved on my package. My current socialisation level equates to medical appointments GP, pathology appointments, hospital appointments, and fortnightly shopping. My current bed hold four Pepino plants (all now flowering), basil plant to be used as a herb, and to also keep bugs away from the pepino fruit, and some crucifix orchid cuttings that I love. I get great satisfaction in looking over that bed I very day, and in giving it a light watering every second day. I often sit on my bench seat and watch that bed, and note the changes, especially if the pepino fruit which I also grew years ago. My second bed will hold butter beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and capsicum as soon as the funds to purchase them are available. This is one enjoyment that I have that does not need me to walk distances, does not restrict my breathing, and does not cause me unbearable pain from the arthritis in my hip, or down my spine because I am never physically there long enough. I feel a sense of achievement in being able to accomplish something that I can take my time and manage, rather than require assistance to do. Had this happened after the recent changes the Minister’s stripping of what we could spend our package on would have stripped me of a very special and important thing….piece of mind! "
MK

"I have gardened for as long as I can remember, even as a young child, growing veggies, pruning small hedges into shapes. My dream was to go onto landscape architecture after high school, but sadly my dad died when I was 15 & mum couldn't afford to keep me at school. I finally achieved my dream of creating a large 2 acre garden after 10 years of marriage & moving to acreage. My hubby did the heavy planting, I did the designing& purchasing. In the easy days I used to save 20c coins then $1.00 coins & save for 'special' trees & bulbs. We gave up counting after planting 4000 trees on our 12.5 acreage bare cow paddock. I loved my Victorian garden of tree ferns, azaleas, camellias, carpets of bulbs by the hundreds, english trees & lots of natives & birds. Took me 3 hours on our rideon to mow our lawn - a job I loved. We then retired to FNQ to the traditional 1/4 acre but now full of palms & tropical plants. Now on my own, I am really struggling to maintain my large garden, with the help of my Mable lawnmower guy. I will continue to need help keeping it under control, removing heavy green waste, especially after our wet season, a habitat for snakes & vermin. I try to prune as I have always done, now with long handled tools sitting in my wheelchair, but its getting so much more difficult. Atm there is nowhere available for me to downsize to as I now need. As I am reliant on a wheelchair, I have recently personally financed an accessible path & lawn off my once raised patio to keep me safe from toppling off the edge. Slowly developing larger pots, including dwarf fruit trees so when I do find a suitable smaller fully accessible unit, with 24/7 nurse onsite, I can take my 'smaller potted garden' with me. The birds & butterflys my plants/flowers attract, are my relaxation & pleasure to watch. I will need more help in the future to prune, as my hands are becoming very sore & loosing strength, maintain, repot, even my raised My Stacky veggie/herb stand. I used to do it all. Having a bedroom door opening into a perfumed garden to sit in the early morning sun, listening to the birds, before the rest of the household/world stirs, has been my routine for as long as I can remember."
LE

"I loved my plants but also can't bend to weed. It used to give me a purpose to get off my bed but not any more.. so now I miss my herbs, veggies & flowers."
HC

"My dad is 89. He has been a passionate gardener his whole life, hardly ever buying fruit and veggies at the shops. He now has very limited mobility and is struggling to tend to his veggie garden and just recently said to me he is going to give it all up. He hardly ever goes out , most of his friends are now gone , and gardening was really the only activity he got joy from. Raised garden beds would significantly help for him to to be able to grow his veggies and herbs whilst sitting on a chair. Without his garden , he’s lost. He can’t watch tv, he can’t read , he has Parkinson’s which rules out alot of other activities. If he could keep gardening , I know he would thrive."
AN

”All I can say is that my mother lives for her plants - they give her a reason to get up every day. They need her care and attention and repay her with beauty or produce. Anything that supports her ability to keep gardening, in turn supports her well-being."
KK

"My mother and father were passionate gardeners, fit and healthy, outdoors for hours each day. My mother had a stroke leaving her in a wheelchair on good days and in bed on others. My Dad is by her side indoors or on concrete. Without ramp or pathways, she can't get to the garden. She hasnt had bare feet on soil/grass in 20 months. The garden itself would need to raised for access and redesigned for chair manoeuvrability. Instead she is confined to the patio, with a side table and we are needing to convert to pot plants to bring her garden to her. Helpers (unpaid) retrieve the plant, bring it to her, get the tools, assist her as she only has one working side and then clean up and take it all away again. The small sensory pleasure she gets from looking at nature, touching, smelling, hearing all assist to calm her brain and the ever present anxiety/tearfulness since the trauma. It is bitter-sweetfor family as she continually reminisces of what was and whilst we try everything we can to accommodate her needs it is very difficult and would not be financially viable in a HCP due to the high care needs taking all the funding and more."
FC

"I’m especially fond of growing herbs and salad veg due to the changes and the slackness of my OT I missed out on raised garden beds so I have my beautiful glass table being used so it is height suitable age related spinal fusion does not allow me to bend to garden plus both knees replaced. Sitting and looking at the garden is heart breaking never alone the mental stress thank god for weed spray."
KF