Getting your alzheimer's and dementia residents gardening.

The surge in construction of dedicated Alzheimer's facilities has led to a lot of innovation with particular attention to design features and activities which stimulate reminiscing and positive social interaction. Offering dementia residents visual and other sensory stimuli that evoke pleasant memories or can otherwise be connected to their past seems to make them more contented and less likely to behave in ways that are difficult to manage. Gardening, with its ability to stimulate many of the senses at once (sight, smell, touch and even taste) has been shown to be one of the most effective means to stimulate positive, soothing thoughts and appropriate social behavior.

The key impediment to involving Alzheimer's residents in gardening has been logistics. These residents require high levels of supervision and staff time, can be difficult to move to different activity areas (especially outdoors) and safety is always a major concern. Many of these residents have physical or health limitations, which mean that they cannot garden in the traditional way, even if staff manages to bring them to an outdoor garden. You know the benefits of getting the residents gardening again, but how to do it?

The answer can be simple. Make it feasible by having gardens indoors, close to where the residents live and spend their time. Create a safe environment that doesn't require full-time, intensive staff supervision, one where residents can choose the activity naturally--any time of day, all year-round. A variety of activities can create meaningful interaction with the garden for residents at virtually any level of dementia.

The ideal indoor gardening system should be complete and self-contained--this will make it easy to care for and minimize demands on staff. Getting a system that is mobile will allow it be used in many locations around your facility, indoors and outdoors, including in resident's rooms for those with limited function. This mobility will greatly enhance your utilization of the garden system and thus your return on the investment.

An indoor garden should ideally be more than a collection of pots. Pots require frequent watering and repotting as plants outgrow their containers. Residents with limited dexterity or range of motion may find pots hard to handle. Make sure your indoor garden is wheelchair accessible and at a convenient height, about 30 inches. A good indoor gardening system should also be large enough for several residents to garden at the same time (ideally facing each other on opposite sides) promoting interaction and socialization. The system should have growing medium that is deep enough for long-term plant growth including vegetables and root crops--at least 10" deep. A well-drained, porous, non-toxic growing mix combined with a good drain system will offset the effect of inevitable frequent over-watering. Appropriate growing mix and abundant light are the keys to a successful, rewarding gardening experience.

Choose a system that has heavy-duty commercial grow lights. These use energy more efficiently, provide a broader spectrum of balanced light to the plants and never require height adjustment. Your garden will blossom and fruit with a vigor not attainable with "homeowner" style lights. A built-in light timer will be a great time saver--your staff will never have to operate or adjust the lighting system.

Don't shy away from the well-documented imperative to get your Alzheimer's residents gardening, working in the soil, nurturing living plants, having something to care for and interacting with others in the process. Indoor gardening systems are an affordable long-term investment which will assist with regulatory compliance by providing a meaningful activity which stimulates cognition and improves dexterity. Equally important, they will brighten the lives of residents and staff, bringing bright, natural, life-affirming color and nature indoors.