Garden Planting Tool for the Disabled Gardener

Author: GardenScapes
Published: 27 Feb 2009 - Updated: 24 Dec 2017

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

The Planting Stick makes garden planting easier for seniors with mobility problems and the disabled.

Overview

Landscapers run into some difficult problems when digging and drilling holes for plants, trees, and shrubs.

For instance, a Homeowner's Association wanted their entrance roundabout planted in groupings of tulips and daffodils. Only problem, the roundabout's planting areas had a soil of wet clay covered by a thin layer of gravel. A pretty difficult planting situation even for the right tools and expertise.

The trowel barely put a dent in soil type. The hard ground did dent the trowel though. One of those auger things you attach to a drill would have worked, except the drill would have burned out quickly.

The solution came from a steel designer. He came up with the landscaper's version of what is known in carpentry as a "wimble."

Taking the auger/drill idea, he attached an auger to a long steel shaft and bent the shaft in two places near the top. This formed a lever for the hands.

A rotating neoprene ball was affixed to the top of the steel shaft.

The finishing touch was a point at the bottom of the steel shaft that went into the difficult soil and started the digging process.

Two or three turns of the crank while standing up and presto: the perfect planting hole.

The result: one-hundred tulip bulbs were planted in about twenty-minutes where no bulbs would go before.

It was dubbed "The Planting Stick" and found very useful for planting just about anything from bulbs to annual six-packs and perennials.

The company, GardenScapes, began manufacturing them for marketing to landscapers.

However, the first person to buy one didn't exactly fall into that category. She was a lady who simply loved her garden, but had back problems. She bought one because of the advantage of not having to bend over to make the planting hole. So, she could plant her entire landscape with the flowers she loved from a standing position.

Another person with a disability, who had been experiencing knee problems, ordered one after seeing a local blurb about them in the newspaper. She said she was excited because now she could get her bulbs in without having to bend her knees.

Landscapers, handicapped by bad soil, continue to find them useful too.