{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping","title":"Garden in Your 90s","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/2d1d4dd8\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2057,"description":"“I can’t hold them back sometimes,” says physiotherapist Nancy Durrant as she tells us about the garden at the long-term care home where she works.\r\nThe residents she’s talking about are mainly in their 90s. And the vegetables and herbs they grow and harvest become part of the menu at this Toronto long-term care home.\r\nAn avid gardener herself, Durant says the home had nice grounds previously…but she saw the space and imagined a garden. The management agreed with her idea of a garden, and two years ago, Durrant, with the help of staff members who built raised beds, set out with a core group of residents to garden.\r\nShe points out that gardens are an excellent fit for what she does as a physiotherapist because gardening is exercise. It’s good for the body, and good for the mind.\r\nGrowing Interest\r\nThere is a core group of residents who, along with staff, run the garden. Durrant says other residents take part, especially with harvest.\r\nAlong with vegetables, they grow a number of herbs. “We have a few herbs which I think is really good because it hits more senses,” says Durrant.\r\nThere are a number of ways they grow interest in the garden:\r\n\r\n* \r\nGrow plants from seed. They grow all all of their plants themselves, from seed. Some are started indoors; some are sown directly in the garden.\r\n\r\n* \r\nWeigh the harvest. Last year they harvest 178 pounds of food. Durrant points out that while this might not sound like a lot, they grow a lot of herbs, which weigh very little.\r\n\r\n* \r\nGrow unusual plants with a story. They focus on heirloom varieties, and put up posters with the story behind the heirloom varieties.\r\n\r\n* \r\nDocument progress. Time-lapse photo displays document the progress of the garden.\r\n\r\n* \r\nSave seeds. Residents save seeds from heirloom varieties for the following year, and to share with the community.\r\n\r\n* \r\nEat what you grow. Produce from the garden is used in meals at the home, with home-grown ingredients highlighted to residents.\r\n\r\n* \r\nGiving back to...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/_y3e1k24nMlKLGYUZdhBsMgezF6u9k_5w92OUmAhniI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kMTFk/NDg3ODQxNjE2MGM1/ZWMwNGVhOTgyZTY1/NmZhOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}