[BlindTlk] Working in a Garden

[Ella Yu]

Can blind people clean up weeds?

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Julie Johnson via BlindTlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 3 Oct 2018 06:20:50 -0500
Subject: Re: [BlindTlk] Working in a Garden

Yes, I garden both at home and in the community garden.  There 
are some
things that aren't practical, like using a hoe to chop weeds, but 
other than
that it's pretty much the same as for sighted people.  Learning 
what is a
weed and what is a vegetable/flower took some practice.   I 
prefer to set up
the garden so I don't walk through where the plants are.  The 
square foot
method works well.  I also have a few raised beds.  I plant some 
things in
the landscaping so they can vine on the fence or porch railings, 
much easier
than setting up trellis and then tearing it down at the end of 
the season.
My main garden area at home is only 4 feet wide and about 30 feet 
long,
which allows me to be able to walk around the outside of the 
plants and
reach in to pull weeds or collect vegetables without walking 
through where
the plants are.  The community garden space is a big rectangle of 
15 feet by
30 feet, where I do have to walk through rows.  I have to be 
super careful
not to step on the plants, especially early in the season when 
they are
tiny.  It's doable, but not my preference.

I tried different labeling methods in the garden, but never did 
find
anything that worked well and lasted throughout the gardening 
season.  I
have a few things in flowerpots and those I just stick in a 
braille plastic
label right in the dirt.  For the rest of the garden I keep notes 
on the
computer to help me keep track of what is where, when it was 
planted and
anything else I want to remember.  I don't label seed packets.  I 
just use
Seeing AI or something similar.

Knowing when the vegetables are ripe can be done by touch.  It's 
not much
different than picking out produce in the grocery store.  You 
have to be
familiar with the vegetable to know what you should check, size, 
firmness,
ease of removing from the vine etc.  That all comes with 
practice.

It took a number of years before I could reliably get things to 
grow and
produce.  I'm not naturally gifted at growing things.  Now my 
general
strategy is to plant 10x more than I will want at the end, so 
after I kill
off most of it, I'm still left with a reasonable amount.

Happy gardening!
Julie
On The Go with Guide-and-Service-Dogs.com
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also find my products in the Blind Mice Mega Mall
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?storeid=1916046
-----Original Message-----
From: Ella Yu via BlindTlk
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2018 7:18 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Cc: Ella Yu
Subject: [BlindTlk] Working in a Garden

Hi all,
I'm supposed to start working in a garden soon and I'm wondering
if it's possible for people who are completely blind.  I will
have assistance.
Thanks in advance.

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