2019 #4 The Accessible Garden

Subdivision: Diamond Tail
Address: 131 Diamond Tail Road
Owners: Shelly and Herman Haase
Garden Type or Features: Ergonomic and wheelchair accessible raised vegetable garden beds. Grey water 4 stage septic treatment system; 360-degree landscape developed and maintained by the owners. Dog friendly landscape.

The following artists will be painting at this garden:

    • AM – Carol Ordogne
    • PM – Connie Falk

Description: Three years ago, Herman believed he could be again confined to a wheelchair after his disability. He did not want to give up on his vegetable gardening and access to fresh greens for cooking. Herman is unable to perform gardening in a normal on the ground manner due to his disability of over 20 years. Shelly and Herman planned for this eventuality by building a sidewalk ramp to an elevate side yard area near their garden utility storage room. The elevated space was flattened to accommodate several raised garden beds accessible from wheelchair height. There is a wheelchair turn around area between the raised garden beds.

Herman is not confined to a wheelchair now and he capably gets around with leg braces and Loft strand crutches. He is comfortably able to tend to his edible plants in the raised garden beds and he can easily operate a retracting hose assembly with the use of his crutches. Framing and protective garden bed covers allow for enough protection to grow greens very early and late into the growing season.

Shelly loves to develop her 360-degree home landscape and she maintains several plants around the home landscape. She consults with the native nurseries in the town to get advice on the best plants and trees to add to her garden for low water maintenance, year around color, and textural interest to create a beautiful foreground setting against the panoramic south and west views of their Diamond Tail property. In the spring the south terraced area of their property is full of yellow iris and during the summer the blooming yarrows. The leaves of their aspen trees might just be changing to a golden yellow at the garden tour time.

The Haase’s home landscape is dog friendly and their spaniels romp and sniff the landscape plants when their owners are out tending their garden.

A unique and practical feature of the Haase property is a 4-stage septic filtering system. The final filter treatment produces an effluent that technically could be used as grey water for landscape use with county approval.