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By Steven Price A garden benefits on many levels. One magical effect of gardening is stress relief. Emotional benefits of gardening may derive in part from the sense of the natural rhythm of life that plants and gardens impart. It can divert thoughts about yourself and your situation. In the garden, you can create your environment. Gardening stimulates all of the senses, giving great pleasure and satisfaction. You can design a garden to challenge your strength and balance, or promote eye-hand coordination, range-of-motion, and endurance to just about any degree you want. Cognitively, year around, gardening can benefit the mind. An accessible garden eliminates physical and barriers to gardening, creating an area where people of all ages and abilities can garden. All you need are a few simple adaptations to the area, methods, and equipment. Raised beds are large bottomless boxes that contain soil and permit drainage below. Since they can be expensive to build, raised beds should be used in areas of the garden that require the most frequent attention. Build a raised bed for vegetables requiring intensive weeding than for a low-maintenance border of shrubs. Build raised beds as large as possible, making sure that you can reach all areas of the bed. The increase in size adds minimal cost to the bed, while adding valuable garden area. Bed width should be a maximum of 5 feet if it is accessible from all sides, or 2.5 feet if used from only one side. If using extended tools, you can add inches to the bed. Seating ledges should be from 8 to 18 inches wide. Use the thinnest construction materials possible without compromising stability, to increase the area available for the gardener. Height of the sides can vary from 18 inches for a child, to 24 inches for someone seated in a chair next to the bed, to 30 inches or higher for the standing gardener who has difficulty bending downward. Boxes and pots of various sizes provide successful ways to grow vegetables and flowers. Choose a pot that will allow for healthy root development. For instance, bush-type peas, beans, cucumbers, kale, broccoli, and lettuce do well in a box that is 1-by-4 feet and 8 inches deep. For some other plants, such as beets, carrots, onions, lettuce, leeks, turnips, kohlrabi, corn, and zucchini, a box that is 2-by-3 feet and 8 inches deep is more suitable. For herbs and flowering plants and vines, find out whether the plant has deep or shallow roots to determine the proper container size. The more shallow the container, the faster it dries out. Hanging baskets can create planting space where none exists. Or, combined with a container garden, they can give you a double-decker growing area. To make watering and viewing easy, buy a ratchet pulley. Or make your own pulley, using steel hooks or rings clamped or mounted to railings or walls. A long metal pole with a curving top hook can be anchored in the ground for a freestanding hanging plant mount. Baskets can be hung high, or if you have limited mobility, hung low enough to see and enjoy their beauty. Table planters are shallow soil-filled trays supported on legs. About 27 inches of knee clearance is needed to allow chairs to fit underneath. The soil container should be at least 8 to 10 inches deep, making the entire structure about 35 to 37 inches high. The top of the planter should be no higher than your rib cage. Width of the box is the same as that of the raised bed, already described. Deep boxes, barrels, and tubs can be used to create miniature raised beds for flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Perennials, trees, and shrubs are not recommended for these types of containers because plants cannot survive in them when the temperature is freezing or below freezing. Use these containers for your annual plants only. Plants to use in accessible garden containers There are many new varieties of plants that are appropriate for the accessible garden container. Look for compact plants (e.g. “Pixie” tomatoes). Compact plants will typically be more suitable for container growing smaller and easier to reach if you use a wheelchair. Also look for tall plants or vines that reach a certain height, thus making them good choices for growing on poles, stakes, and trellises. Choose flowers not only according to their light requirements and shape, but also by their colors, textures, and fragrances. Considerations for Creating an Accessible Garden Water - Make sure that water is available, close to the garden site, and in a paved area so the ground does not get muddy. Place the spigot at 24 to 36 inches above ground and use hand levers (not round spigot handles) and snap connectors. Soaker hoses and mulch will also reduce watering needs in the garden. Plant Choice - To aid in the harvesting of plants, use contrasting or bright colors. Some plants naturally contrast their ripening fruit against their foliage, such as purple-podded bush beans or golden zucchini. Select plants that are high producers per inch of growing space, with interesting textures and fragrances. Use plants that people want to grow or eat. Emergencies - Make provisions to summon assistance for potential medical or police emergencies. A wheelchair-accessible parking space near the garden is mandatory for public gardens, both for persons with disabilities and for medical/police access. It is not mandated at private homes. Paved Surfaces - Garden path surfaces must be firm, smooth, level, and provide traction. The grade of the path should be between 5 and 8 percent. Provide direct routes throughout the garden. Use edge guides if you have ambulating and/or visual disabilities. Audible water features and wind chimes also help orient you through the garden. One-way traffic needs a five-foot minimum width to accommodate the turning radius of a wheelchair. Two-way traffic requires a 7 foot minimum width. Paving Material and Comments Asphalt - Absorbs and radiates heat. Hot in summer, but snow melts off sooner. Wood decking - Slippery when wet. Brick - Expensive and must be installed properly. Decomposed granite - Readily available. Good for persons in wheelchairs but not on crutches. Screenings - Large and small limestone pieces (similar to decomposed granite). Concrete - Expensive; glare can be a problem for elders and people with visual impairments. Woodchips and turf - Use only for persons without ambulatory equipment. Research shows: The single largest factor to the selection of a retirement community is the quality of the landscape. A view of trees may reduce the recovery time in the hospital after surgery by almost a full day. The quality of plant material contributes to the feeling of satisfaction in living in that community. Over 88% of Americans feel that trees and flowers in a city are important beyond their beauty and pleasing appearance. 40% of Americans find that being around plants makes them feel calm and more relaxed. Landscape design and proper maintenance play a significant role in perceived and real security related to crime. Steve Price, webmaster of http://family-friendly-fun.com - a free resource for family fun activities and resources for a happy and healthy family life, including support for families with special needs and disabilities. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Price http://EzineArticles.com/?Accessible-Gardening&id=515905 personal loans for people with poor credit payday lenders with actual phone numbers bad credit lender cash purchase vs auto loan

By Paul Heitman Providing age appropriate books are very important. Children who cannot read and depend on you to read to them require books that have bright colorful pictures so the child can identify characters that you are reading about. Older children who are able to read may prefer chapter books that do not have as many picture in them. Teenagers who love to read prefer to have novels or books that do not have any pictures at all. When a child reads, they are gaining knowledge. A child views the contents of books differently than an adult. Children use their imaginations and if the parent has an imagination, they can use it to play the what if game with the contents they have read. It is not only fun to read books it can also be educational. Children are not born reading. It is a skill that must be taught. There are some children who can teach themselves to read by parents reading the same story over and over again. They learn to recognize the words and soon they are reading on their own. This impresses many parents. Reading is something that is taken for granted; you use this skill every moment of your life. The more you encourage your child to read, the better their chances of having a successful life. At work you use reading skill to gather important data, to write a business report and even when you are driving home. Providing different types of reading materials will assist your child with language skill because you are exposing them to a larger vocabulary. It is very easy for you to explain what the new words mean, and your child is gaining a wealth of information. When you read to your child aloud, you are also assisting them in the proper pronunciation of the words. Your child will soon be using the new words that they have learned not only in sentences, but also in the right context. Books provide hours of reading enjoyment for children of all ages. They are able to use their imaginations and dream of far away places. From pirate ships to fairy princesses, there are millions of books for kids of all ages. Teaching your kids the importance of reading when they are young will give them the fundamental basics that will assist them throughout their lives. Paul Heitman is the owner of modern-parenting-resources.com CLICK HERE for more useful information about childrens books Or CLICK HERE to browse the Raising Children Blog. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Heitman http://EzineArticles.com/?Squeezing-the-Best-Out-of-Your-Kids-by-Reading-Books&id=396455 bank of america unsecured loan cash advance san jose ca sba loans fast georgia unsecure loans personal

By Karri Koivula Running with knees that hurt and are not getting better trough time is no fun, and being addicted to running doesnt help either. Fortunately, pain isnt always a definite sign of tissue damage; instead it can be protective pain that is coming from entities called myofascial trigger points. Pain from trigger points can feel like its coming from knee joint or patellae, while its actually coming from contraction knots in the quadriceps muscles. What makes things quite enigmatic is that these knots can sometimes reside high in quadriceps muscles, far from where the actual pain symptom is felt. Its not uncommon for knee pain to be solely or partially muscular. Its also common for doctors to overlook trigger points as a possible pain cause, because at this point there is no imaging equipment in use, which could verify their existence. For now, only way to find out if trigger point are part of the pain equation, is manually palpating and searching for them from the muscles. There are not many doctors who do this, or know how to do this, or think that its even beneficial to do this. Fortunately finding and treating trigger points is quite easy, and you dont need an expert to do it for you. You just find tender spots which refer pain to your knee when pressed, from those muscles that are reported to be involved in knee pains. Usually, even a few days of self-massage to those points, can make them stop referring pain to your knee area. And make it evident that they where indeed behind the pain. Finding and massaging trigger points in the quadriceps and calf muscles, and the small muscles behind the knee (plantaris & popliteus), should give you good results. More information at pain relief guide site, quick links below Related resources back at pain relief guide site, quick links below. Also, remember to download trigger point pain charts (beta) - available at home page. Glucosamine chondroitin for arthritis - Pain-relief-guide.com Liquid glucosamine chondroitin sulfate Glucosamine chondroitin tablets/capsules/pills Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karri_Koivula http://EzineArticles.com/?Quick-Tip-for-Runners-Who-Have-Knee-Pain&id=66455 instant cash 4 newbies payday loan laws quick funding hard money loans fast no credit check personal loan

By Mary Eule Your reputation, strengthened or negated by word-of-mouth, is one of the most difficult things to build and one of the easiest to destroy. You must be committed to developing and protecting your good name at all costs it is one of your most precious assets. How do you develop and preserve an exemplary reputation? First, you must believe that honesty, credibility and consistency are right both personally and professionally. Second, you must consistently deliver what you promise no exceptions. And finally, you must build and maintain positive relationships, and treat everyone with kindness and respect, regardless of the situation. Heres a personal example. When I help found my own small, competitive long-distance company I developed a policy on treating customers with specific guidelines and scripts for dealing with difficult ones. Sometimes our service consultants were in the unenviable position of having to terminate a customers service for nonpayment. As you might expect, this often resulted in a frustrated, angry or regretful call into our service center. We could have used the opportunity to chastised and pressure these folks many companies do. However, no matter what the outcome of the call, we made sure that every person was treated with kindness and respect. Our representatives made every attempt to help these customers often taking great leaps of faith. In other words, we continued to serve when others would not have. This one policy resulted in more positive testimonials than our other, more formalized, programs. Youd be amazed at how many of these folks ended up becoming some of our best, and most loyal, customers. During those years I felt tense before answering strangers fated question, So, Mary, what do you do for a living? I was braced for anything from a blank stare to a tirade of complaints. Yet, not one of my current, or former, customers ever complained about how they were treated by any employee of the company even though they may have had other concerns (for example billing errors, service outages). I was also grateful to learn that many defectors eagerly recommended our company to others. As a person far wiser than me said, A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was. (Joseph Hall) Mary Eule specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses get and keep profitable customers. Formerly a Fortune 500 marketing executive; founder of two successful small businesses and award-winning speaker, Ms. Eule is President of Strategic Marketing Advisors, LLC. and co-author of a new book, “Mandatory Marketing: Small Business Edition”. She holds a master degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Log onto http://www.StrategicMarketingAdvisors.com for free articles, newsletter and helpful tools, tips and templates. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Eule http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Reputation—Take-It-Seriously&id=83895 homemade payday bars best personal loans help getting a bad credit loan el paso online car loan