How To Design An Accessible Garden

Accessible garden design is something every homeowner should consider – whether accessibility is a priority or not for the garden's everyday users.

Gardens are often considered spaces to unwind, relax and escape to, so it makes sense that they should be physically accessible to everyone. Accessible garden design is also an essential consideration for futureproofing your home, ensuring you can enjoy your outdoor spaces even if your physical abilities are limited.

Specialist garden spaces for those with severe restrictions of movement or disability require careful planning, along with guidance from landscape professionals who specialise in this field. To ensure the safe use of the garden, you need to adhere to the regulations for ramps, have specialised equipment and correctly incorporate the necessary widths for mobility aids.

Levels

Consider ramps instead of garden steps for linking the different levels of your outdoor space. They will make access much easier for you and those with restricted mobility, ensuring everyone can use your garden. They will also facilitate moving gardening equipment such as lawnmowers and wheelbarrows.

Ramps should have a gentle gradient – rising by no more than one metre over a distance of two metres. They take up slightly more space than steps but are much easier to navigate in all weather conditions. You can fit handrails along the length for added support.

Level thresholds are important for connecting indoor and outdoor spaces to allow access for wheelchair users and decrease trip hazards. Using the same flooring material for interiors and exteriors will ensure this transition appears almost seamless.

Create raised beds in preference to ground level planting. Beds should be built to a height of at least 500 mm. Raised beds will also allow you to import good quality sterilised soil, reducing the required weeding.

Paving

When planning new terraces or paved walkways, you should avoid loose aggregates, which are not easy to walk on or push wheelchairs or wheelbarrows over. Also to be avoided is porcelain paving. It is long lasting, but can become slippery – especially when wet.

Where possible, look for slightly textured paving:

Cast concrete is practical but can sometimes age poorly.

Natural stone and hardwearing slate will need an annual clean. However, if you select a 'riven' finish, the natural texture will be more robust underfoot and will keep its looks for many years.

Maintenance

Low maintenance garden practices are essential in accessible gardens. Reducing the physical strain of gardening can also create a space with long-lasting appeal.

Among the most labour-saving decisions you can make is to use weed control fabrics, mulch and install a watering system. These solutions can improve the longevity of your relationship with a garden and increase its usage for those with limited mobility.

Borders that consist primarily of shrubs will take a few years to establish, so without a weed control membrane, you will need to spend a lot of time weeding. Weed control fabric can be made from self-rotting material like paper or cardboard – best for organic gardening – or recycled materials like old carpeting. Once laid on the ground, it can be covered with bark or wood chips which are attractive and significantly reduce weeding.

An irrigation system may seem like a luxury, but it has been proven that a correctly installed and managed watering system can improve the growth rates of plants because it consistently provides the same volume of water – while reducing household water usage.

An irrigation system is a labour-saving device, but its initial investment is repaid over its lifespan through reduced water wastage and lower water bills.

Many systems are on the market – from specialist installations to self-installed leaky pipes and drip feeders. Research and ask questions in good garden centres and independent retailers to find a system that is right for your garden.

Plants

As a general rule, useful plants need to last for more than one season, especially in small spaces. For a labour-saving garden that is easy to live with and accessible, annuals are not ideal. Instead, plant hardy herbaceous perennials with long flowering seasons, such as pelargoniums, Gaura and Achillea. They don't need staking or regular dead-heading, so labour requirements are minimal.

Small garden trees are ideal as they provide a habitat for birds and small animals, and many have flowers, autumn foliage colour and fruit. Some good choices include:

Karee (Searsia lancea) – an indigenous tree with a graceful, weeping form and a softly rounded crown. It has no aggressive root system and occurs in all the provinces except KwaZulu-Natal. It has a low branching habit, producing multiple stems from ground level, but can be pruned into a single stemmed tree.

Large Num-num (Carissa macrocarpa) – an ornamental evergreen shrub or small tree which grows wild along the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape coastlines. It endures wind, heat and salt spray and will tolerate moderate frost if planted in a protected position. It has dark green waxy leaves, and white, scented, star-shaped flowers, followed by edible bright red fruits.

Pompom-tree (Dias cotinifolia) – can be single or multi-stemmed, with a round crown of bluish-green leaves and pink flowers. It has non-invasive roots and can be pruned to keep it small.

For woody shrubs, choose the ones that have flowers, good autumn colour or are evergreen and have interesting shapes.

These garden design solutions will help you create a garden that is welcoming, easy to enjoy and with features that can adapt to your changing physical abilities.

Writer: Sarah-Jane Meyer

How To Design An Accessible Garden, According To Gardeners' World's Mark Lane

How to design an accessible gardenBBC Pictures

Steps, steep slopes and uneven ground are just a few hazards that can make gardens unsafe and impractical for people with mobility issues. But, with changes to layout and design, there are some achievable ways to create a secure space that's accessible for all.

'If you love gardening but your body is starting to ache in areas that never ached before or you find yourself needing to use a walking frame, stick or wheelchair, then what should be a wonderful creative past-time can turn into a nightmare of a project. With some planning, you can create the outdoor space of your dreams,' says Mark Lane, landscape designer, Gardeners' World presenter and ambassador for Thrive, a disability charity that uses gardening to positively change lives.

The design of your garden can create a huge difference to your enjoyment of it. Here are some top tips to help you out...

1. Get to know your body

When designing your garden, it's important to create a space that will work for you. You should consider how far you can reach, whether you will want to sit down, or if you might need a ramp to provide ease.

'Assess yourself and see how far you can reach, bend or lean forward,' says Mark. 'Can you twist your torso? Can you twist your wrist? Are you able to kneel on a comfy pad or cushion? Are you able to push yourself up again? Once you know what it is you can do, then the outdoor space will be much easier and can be created around you.

'For example, if you cannot twist your body and need, or would prefer, to sit down when gardening, then a raised bed with flat sides isn't advisable. Instead, go for a raised table or manger so that you can get your knees underneath and work at a comfortable height without having to twist or turn.'

BBC Pictures

2. Take measurements of your space

As you design your dream garden, take measurements of your space (or ask someone to help you). See where the sun comes up and where shadows fall to enable you to work out exactly where to position garden furniture. Consider whether there's a specific view you'd like to see from your kitchen window, such as a pretty flowerbed or bird bath, for example, and think about the size of your patio or paved area, ensuring it's big enough for a table and chairs.

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3. Create a pathway for purpose

Hard standings such as pathways, turning circles, ramps and steps, really are essential when creating safe, accessible gardens for the elderly, wheelchair users, or those less able. 'Make sure they are wide enough to take a wheelchair or buggy and someone walking by the side,' notes Mark. 'In an ideal world, this would be between one and a half, and two metres wide.'

Paths should also have gradual, easy curves, instead of sharp corners — this will make it easier for people navigate a garden. Consider adding handrails to steps and level changes for extra stability. And similarly, enclosing your decking with secure balustrades is a practical measure to reduce the chances of tripping and causing injury.

A great example of accessible garden design was seen in Horatio's Garden designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. This adaptive garden put the priorities of all those with different mobility needs at its heart, with accessible, wide paths, which not only allowed for pain-free movement, but also easy navigation by patients in beds, wheelchairs, or by those learning how to walk again.

Horatio's Garden at RHS Chelsea 2023RHS/Neil Hepworth

'For the pathway, consider paving slabs rather than gravel, as little stones are very difficult for wheelchair wheels to navigate,' says Mark. 'Paving should be pointed with a minimum gap of 10mm. You want a firm, stable, non-slip surface. In some instances, anti-glare paving slabs are a good idea — especially for partially sighted or blind people.'

4. Opt for raised beds and elevated gardening

Raised beds will boost drainage, create the perfect foundation to grow a wide range of plants, and provide accessibility to wheelchair users as it lifts the garden up to a manageable height.

Mark advises that you shouldn't make raised beds any wider than 1.2m, especially if you can only access it from one side.

'Add a raised edge to your pathways. This is great for wheels, feet and tapping with a cane,' he says. If you use treated softwood sleepers laid on their longer flat edge, you can create a perching spot all the way around the soil area, enabling you to garden while sitting down. If you're using brick or blockwork, try and aim for a frame that's 20-30cm wide, which is just big enough to perch on.

5. Make lighting a priority

Lighting should always be a key consideration inside and outside the home. Think about the use of wall lights, which should be placed by your garden door, but also position these in corners or nooks of your outdoor space that will often get dark. To line pathways and create a clear direction of travel for wheelchair users, invest in stake lights or outdoor strip lights to illuminate paths or decking steps.

David Hough from home improvement specialists, SMART Balustrades, stresses the importance of using lighting around the garden to improve accessibility for the darker days and nights.

'The patio area can often be slippery when wet, and hard structures can hurt when banged into, so installing lighting to this area is recommended,' he says. 'Festoon and string lights are popular options for both balcony and garden owners, as they can be easily hung from surrounding structures.'

6. Invest in a self-watering system

If you're struggling to reach certain flowers, or don't have the time to water them, a self-watering system is definitely worth investing in. 'You need an irrigation system (for example, a leaky hose or small irrigation pipes and nozzles that drip-feed and nourish your plants) plus a water collecting reservoir at the bottom,' explains Mark.

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Sasaki Releases Early Design State Carbon Calculator

Global design firm Sasaki has released an early-stage Carbon goal and benchmarking tool to let property designers experiment with approaches before committing to final stages.

The company said that the new product, Carbon Conscience 2.0, "supports district-scale, early-phase, whole-project-life-cycle analysis inclusive of site and building data."

The version 2 suffix refers to a previous beta version. It "incorporates feedback from experts, users, and both academic and professional peer reviewers; and represents the first full 'gamma version' of the Carbon Conscience platform," the company said. "By providing Carbon Conscience to the design community as a free and publicly accessible tool, Sasaki hopes to empower designers and planners with data to more effectively advocate for low-carbon design, early in the design process."

"Carbon Conscience 2.0 includes a completely rebuilt landscape architectural dataset, developed through Sasaki landscape architect Chris Hardy's research as part of his 2023 Landscape Architecture Foundation Fellowship," they wrote. "Hardy created a landscape baseline materials database for 148 unique materials and product typologies, as well as a new model based on cited literature for ecosystem and softscape sequestration projections, inclusive of biomass, soil organic carbon, and allochthonous carbon. This work supports Climate Positive Design. It will also be part of the American Society of Landscape Architects Climate Action Plan's next generation of decarbonizing design tools and resources."

The approach sounds like something often done in engineering, with extensive use of reference designs and design data about specific successful applications. But such clearly established solutions that can be plugged into real-world needs aren't availability when it comes to carbon reduction.

As researchers in China and the UK noted in a 2022 paper: "The challenges of building design are as follows: lack of (1) a comprehensive standard system considering different factors, (2) lack of a carbon emission calculation method for the design phase, and a (3) no real-time optimization model aiming at carbon reduction."

Without established and proven design approaches, working up a solution for any problem or application requires far more work. Experimentation and iteration become necessary as designers and engineers feel their way toward adequate solutions. Performing whole-project design in this way could let architects, developers, and builders over time address critical environmental issues that will continue to grow in importance for regulatory compliance, tenant customer satisfaction, and investor concerns.

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