Woodbury Community Garden is getting an AARP-funded upgrade: wheelchair-accessible garden beds

Caleb Hensin, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

The Woodbury Community Garden has received two grants that will help make the garden wheelchair-accessible and expand access to all of the city’s residents.

The AARP Community Challenge Grant Program recently awarded $6,600 to Woodbury Thrives, the parent organization of the Community Garden. That grant money will be used to construct Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant raised garden beds that are meant to be more accessible to people who use wheelchairs. The design of the raised beds is one created by the Placer Resource Conservation District in California. The beds have room underneath for wheelchairs, similar to how a person sits at a desk.

The beds are planned to be placed on the garden’s east side, said Sandy Peterson, the garden’s project manager. There also are plans for either gravel or asphalt pathways that would be easier for wheelchairs to roll on.

“We’re very excited, and very grateful,” Peterson said. “It’s a great honor.”

Ed Myatt is a member of the University of Minnesota’s Master Gardeners program, which trains volunteers on horticulture, as well as a member of the garden’s leadership committee.

He is also, as described by Peterson, the committee’s preeminent handyman. “My specialty is building,” he said.

Broader accessibility for the garden is something the committee has been discussing for over a year, according to Myatt. It was Myatt who brought design ideas to the table, having already begun construction on demonstration raised beds for the Washington County Fairgrounds.

With these beds, Myatt said, “People who are confined to wheelchairs can garden like everyone else.”

Unique challenges

The grant requires that construction of the garden beds be completed by the end of the year. In actuality, the deadline is even sooner, Peterson said. Usually by late November, winter starts to encroach and the ground hardens, making construction difficult.

The garden’s committee started hosting what Peterson called “outreach programs” to inform the community about the accessibility upgrades and to drum up interest in general, particularly from minority groups and the elderly. Peterson said one has been hosted so far and that she was met with enthusiasm.

“You just never know how many people are out there that need things like this,” Peterson said. “There’s no database or spreadsheet.”

A last stipulation of the grant is that a plot in the community garden has to be reserved for growing vegetables that will be donated to local food shelves, something that Peterson said they already do.

Alan Petersen is a former farmer with an agricultural degree. He also uses a wheelchair. Petersen was asked to give feedback on designs for the raised garden beds.

“There’s a lot of people that want something to do and want to garden, and could use the vegetables,” Petersen said. Though he is not a gardener himself, he recalled how much his mother enjoyed gardening and how difficult it became for her as she aged.

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This brought him to a point echoed by Sandy Peterson: it’s not just people who use wheelchairs who could benefit from these raised garden beds, but also people with other disabilities and the elderly, for whom bending over or getting on their knees may be uncomfortable.

“I’m excited about it, I think it’s a good thing,” Petersen said.

Jay Haapala, associate state director of community engagement at AARP Minnesota, said the competition for grants like these is representative of a growing trend and desire for community members to connect with one another and be more inclusive of their neighbors.

“These projects are a way for people of all ages and all abilities to participate and be a part of the community,” Haapala said.

Growing the garden

Peterson said that with the grant money, they should be able to build at least two raised garden beds.

The Woodbury Community Garden launched in 2022 with 16 plots and expanded in 2023 to include 48 plots. The hope, Peterson said, is that next year they could double the garden’s size.

This hope has gotten closer to being realized with the addition of a second grant from the state’s Department of Agriculture, awarded on July 13. The Urban Agriculture Grant will provide three years of funding, totaling nearly $50,000, which helped exceed Peterson’s dreams: the garden can now triple in size.

“Once the Woodbury Community Foundation and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture finalize paperwork, garden expansion will begin,” said Simi Patnaik, Woodbury Thrives program manager, in a news release. “We anticipate being able to break ground before the end of 2024 and have additional plots available for 2025.”

Good news for a garden that has had its current plots continuously filled up, with constant demand for more, Patnaik and Peterson said.

“These grants make it possible for more Woodbury residents to enjoy gardening,” Patnaik said. “This will move us to a new level.”

Prospective gardeners can reserve plots through the city of Woodbury at woodburymn.gov/1001/Community-Garden. There is a rental fee for plots; financial assistance is available.

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