Your senior can enjoy gardening and helping to maintain a garden even if they’ve had to give up gardening full time because of health or mobility concerns. This is made possible through technology in part. To grow a plant from a seed indoors during the winter doesn’t take much effort; it only requires the use of a grow lamp. This is a light which provides all the frequencies of natural sunlight.

Starting from a seed and growing a plant is a nurturing process. While your elderly loved one is nurturing their plants, the process is nurturing the person’s mental health and feeling of being needed and having a purpose. Caregivers have noticed this connection many times. In fact your loved one’s in-home care provider can help your parent to enjoy planting and growing seeds both indoors and out when the weather permits.

An in-home care service can also provide day to day help with everyday living. Errands, shopping, cleaning, hobbies, laundry and cooking are all ways that a caregiver can give help and assistance to your loved one. It brings peace and joy into their lives knowing they are getting the help they need.

A mini garden can be made in one big pot. Here’s what you’ll need:

• A large diameter pot. It doesn’t need to be too deep.
• A packet or two of seeds. If you want to do a mix of different lettuces, that works well.
• Herbs of all kinds grow well in little pots.
• Some potting soil.
• Water and either sunlight or a grow lamp.

For outside gardening, you can choose from a variety of different flowers or vegetables. In a nice sunny location you can plant these in the spring and they will bring joy and beauty all summer long. Placing some lovely little plants right outside the front and back door is a good strategy because your senior loved one may not want to walk too far to enjoy the beauty of them. If they are close to the doors, she can open the door and enjoy them any time she wants.

Find a part of the gardening process that your loved one can participate in. If she can’t bend over to pull weeds from the outdoor flower garden, try planting some raised beds. Pots that stand up a little higher will grow flowers very well and are easier to reach. Even a senior in a wheelchair can get joy and satisfaction from tending to plants in pots within reach of their wheelchair.

An indoor herb garden can be kept in a sunny kitchen window. The herbs can be used fresh in meals that are cooked daily. They bring both visual and culinary enjoyment.