Sustainable and therapeutic: The perfect two-in-one for your aged care home

Creating a healthy lifestyle for your residents is of utmost priority for staff at aged care homes. From indoor board games to musical sessions and book clubs, most facilities cater to everyone’s interests. 

Often residents feel the lack of that spark and excitement when they move into an aged care home for the first time. And as normal as this may be, it’s essential to break into this feeling and provide them with small opportunities that help them socialise everyday with other residents and staff.

These residents have spent a large part of their lives creating beautiful homes and meaningful communities but often as they age, they find it hard to keep up with the demands of maintaining their possessions, be it their homes, gardens, families or friends circles. 

Attempting to do just that is Vegepod – An Australian owned idea that has now grown into a worldwide design, accepted by residential facilities across the globe.

These raised garden beds are compact and easy to use and made to fit into any residential facility to grow your fruit, veg and herbs allowing you to continue living a healthy lifestyle while building a like‑minded community around you. 

A Vegepod comes in three sizes to fit into the space in your facility. These garden beds are contained and fitted in with a self watering irrigation system with the presence of a wicking at the bottom which enables the plants to draw up water when needed. The reservoir holds a huge amount of water, which makes it a sustainable option all year round. 

“Most of the aged care facilities that have vegepod in their gardens only go out to water it every once in three weeks,” says Melanie Athan, Horticulturist and Community Coordinator at Vegepod Australia. 

The garden bed comes with a mesh canopy protecting the plants from pests, birds and harsh weather conditions. Once the base is filled with soil, the portable structure becomes quite heavy, making it a stable and safe option for your garden spaces.

Engaging in outdoor activities together as a community gives everyone something to look forward to. For those who are disabled or have limited mobility, regular community gatherings are essential to keep their mind and body active.

Apart from the regular activities such as movie nights, pet therapy and intergenerational interactions that most facilities put together, outdoor activities involving gardening are therapeutic and have several physical and mental benefits.

“Those who have bad backs find it hard to work in the garden,” says Ms Athan, “having a raised and portable garden bed like the Vegepod in the backyard just allows for that extra accessibility and to be wheeled around wherever you want it.”

At a time when food is becoming more expensive and less accessible, community gardening should be an integral part of our lives.

“So no matter what your ability, we basically enable gardening, which we believe is a human right to be able to grow your own food.”

“With aged care specifically, we’ve found that a lot of the people in those care settings have come from having quite big gardens and from loving gardening, into a space where they have very little room to garden at all, if any,” Ms Athan adds.

How exciting does that sound? Having a few residents sitting besides each other, in an open space bonding over the veggies and herbs they put in all the hard work for. It gives them something to take ownership of – a small plot of land that they have devoted their time on.

Most newer aged care facilities tend to lack outdoor spaces compared to the traditional ones. This certainly can be a hindering factor when it comes to gardening and other outdoor activities.

Vegepod Australia has collaborated with the Therapeutic Horticulture Association of Australia. They focus on providing residents living with dementia a sensory gardening experience.

“The Vegepod comes in three sizes and can be placed even in small balconies or common areas and shared spaces. Enabling residents to smell, touch and feel the plants, and be around different bright colours is therapeutic and the Vegepod has become a really great tool,” says Ms Athan. 

“Add some ornamental plants that brighten up the space with its flowers and textures. It’s a great way to engage the residents in some quality outdoor time.”

Overall, studies have shown us that being surrounded by greenery can calm your mind and body, making you feel relaxed and happier. 

Ms Athan remembers a beautiful incident where she witnessed a resident sitting in her chair who was living with severe dementia but insisted on wanting to be a part of the gardening community at the facility.

“They had the Vegepod rolled right up to her and she was digging, and she was planting and she was going through all the different plants, and smelling them. It was a whole sensory experience that was available to someone with limited ability.”