How do we keep up our love of gardening?

Answered by Barry, husband of Geraldine

What I tried…

My wife Geraldine used to love to garden, but after her stroke, she found it hard to get out and do it. She got increasingly upset at me for not allowing her to garden. We decided to give indoor gardening a try. Making an indoor garden, or terrarium, is pretty simple.

• You start by finding an empty glass container. We had an old fish tank laying in our garage, but you could use a jar or a vase.
• First you clean it out real good, then you put gravel, charcoal, stagnant moss, and potting mix in it.
• Next, you plant a few indoor plants. And then you mist spray it.
• To learn about how to make a gerramiunm, you could watch this video of Burke’s Backyard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHR0LYPgAPA&feature=youtu.be

What I thought about…

I had to get in a bit of a different mindset – rather than focus on what Geraldine couldn’t do anymore, I had to think creatively about ways to adapt the activity so she still could. It’s really easy to get in ‘protective’ mode and just focus on her safety, but actually her wellbeing is

A bit more about me and my caring situation… 

I’ve been married for 43 years. Geraldine had a stroke last year, which has affected her mobility and speech. She now uses a wheelchair to get around and has trouble communicating.