Your gardening tips

30 April 2026

You had dozens of top tips for making gardening easier and more enjoyable with Parkinson's. We share just a few of them here

Planning ahead

Not everything will grow well everywhere - see what grows well in gardens near you and copy those plants. And plant what you enjoy! - Katy Slade
Balance growing low-maintenance plants with fun stuff you love to grow. - Lynn Clere
As the sense of smell is among the first to wane with Parkinson's, go for bright, colourful flowers like cosmos to lift the spirits. - John Seager
Break down jobs into manageable 5 or 10 min slots. A little gardening is better than no gardening. - Lynn Clere
Do 1 or 2 manageable jobs at a time. Don't try to do everything in one go, no matter how ambitious you're feeling. Pace yourself so that you can enjoy your garden, rather than it becoming a chore. - Julian Dorr

"Remember that sitting in, looking at, planning and enjoying your garden is still gardening!" - Lynn Clere

Take your mobile phone, just in case. - Lynn Clere
I bought a lightweight trowel and lightweight snips and have found them very easy to use.
I have a small set of steps that I use to sit on and garden. They are a perfect height for reaching weeds but save my back and save me falling over or not being able to get up.
I have a porter's trolley to put compost and pots on, to move them easily round the garden (and someone to put the items on the trolley for me).
Keep a plastic box of small essential gardening tools (gloves, secateurs, weeder, grabbers) by the back door so they're always handy. And the most useful larger tools I've bought are a long-handled weeder that you twist round the weed to pull it out by the roots, and a long-handled garden pruner to reach and snip our climbing roses. - Jo Gostick

"Get your hands into soil at least once a day!" - Jane Box

Delegate the boring stuff or your least favourite job! Save your energy for the fun stuff. - Lynn Clere
My husband has Parkinson's and he really enjoys helping me to garden at home and in the allotment. He loves having tasks to do such as watering and feeding the compost heap. He likes noticing the change in plants as they grow. Gardening is a good topic of conversation for us. - Barbara Hughes
I recommend gardening with others. I used to have an allotment but found it hard to keep it up. I now volunteer at a community garden and if I have to miss a few weeks then other volunteers look after things. I also enjoy the company and find it uplifting. - Frankie Carpenter

My husband always enjoyed growing vegetables for us to eat. Now he had difficulty processing what to do and can’t deal with tiny seeds. But I fill smallish pots with compost, and 1 at a time I give him a big seed that he can push into the compost, such as broad beans, runner beans, courgettes and squashes.

When they have germinated I plant them in the ground close to the front so I can wheel him round the garden and he can water them. - Janet Wayment