Page 32 - ALG Issue 4 2018

General
Gardening from a wheelchair:
an alternative view
In November 2002, after working on farms and gardens for most of his life, Paul Woolley had just landed his dream job as the first head groundsman at a 4-star hotel near Lichfield. The hotel had acquired 95 acres of former farmland and woodland to add to the 5 acres of formal gardens. For the first 6 months Paul used his former tractor driving skills to rid the ground of years of weeds and neglect.
In the following year the hotel took on
an apprentice and the ground was made ready to be reseeded with a mixture of grasses in preparation for a new deer
park. Late September the grass started to emerge and Paul felt very proud of what he had achieved in his first 10 months in post.
in each quarter. The beds were 8’ across 40’ long and had 3’ grass paths between. There was a large herb bed in the centre with 9 beds with gravel paths between. This allowed me to get around the garden between the beds with my machine and wheelchair. Hoeing between rows was straightforward sitting on the grass paths and reaching into the middle from both sides but what about planting and sowing seeds? 2 strips of plywood were laid on the bed for the wheelchair to get across and
a hoe dragged across the edge made the drill. Seeds sown down a piece of pipe and plants grown in modules dropped down a larger pipe into holes made by a trowel on a long handle”.
It would take Paul no longer to sow or plant than any of the other garden staff and he positively enjoyed hoeing to keep the weeds down, so much so that he wore the first hoe attachment away in the first couple of years and this had to be replaced. The
At the end of October that year Paul
lost control of his Land Rover, and when it overturned he broke his back. Paul spent
a week in a general hospital before he was moved to the Midland Centre for Spinal Injury at Oswestry. Here he was told he would never walk
again. He spent 19
weeks at Oswestry
rehabilitation learning
to live as independent
a life as possible.
Whilst Paul was
in hospital the owners at the hotel sent a gardener every few weeks to tell him what work had been completed. He returned
to his post after leaving the hospital and
at first would go to the office by taxi and would instruct the gardeners in day-to-day work. As his strength increased he spent longer each day getting out and about.
The deer park fences went in and the deer arrived at the end of summer. He also set about reinstating the 1⁄2 acre walled garden to producing fruit and veg for the hotel. He found a machine that towed his wheelchair, giving the stability needed and saving his strength for working in the garden. Most people assumed he would only be able to garden in raised beds but he found that with long handed tools and careful planning he was able to garden at ground level pretty much as before. Paul explains below how he gardens from his wheelchair.
“I set out the veg garden with 3 long beds
skills he learnt at work meant that when he retired from the job
at the hotel he was able to grow veg not only at home but
also in a couple of other gardens where he shared his produce
with the garden’s owners. He also started working as an adviser for other people with spinal injury for a charity called Aspire and still goes to the Midland Centre for Spinal Injury at Oswestry. He has written a piece about his gardening on their blog https:// www.aspire.org.uk/blog/gardening-at- ground-level. Paul now helps out at a charity that provides gardening and agriculture experiences for people with disabilities and is a valuable part of their volunteer team as well as keeping the borders and veg in a friend’s 1-acre garden free of weeds. Two years ago, he bought a 4-acre field within the area of the National Forest and with the help of his best mate he has planted 750 trees which will be his contribution to helping wildlife and wildflowers. He often spends an afternoon there checking the trees and new hedges. He has now moved into a farmhouse with about 1⁄4 of an acre garden and still has
It would take Paul no longer to sow or plant than any of the other garden staff
2 other veg plots that he shares with the owners. Paul concludes:
“I think you will agree that I am a bit obsessed with gardening, but I do like to
tell others with disabilities that most things are achievable and sometimes assumptions (raised beds etc.) prevent people doing what they want!”
Paul Woolley
NAS Individual Member
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