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News
 Elevated planter boxes a hit for Nilsen Woodworks Danna Webster It is easy for seniors to play around in the dirt with new elevated plater boxes made at Nilsen Woodworks, a Key Peninsula business. Owner Magnus Nilsen offered three boxes to Sound Vista Village Retirement Community in Gig Harbor to test his idea. Sound Vista Village Nurse Jenny Hokenson says, "They work great. They have flowers growing in them. They have herbs growing in them." The elevated boxes are built to accommodate gardeners: short and tall, with a walker or with a wheelchair. They are built on stable and sturdy stands to prevent tipping, with rounded corners, 33 inches high and 7 inches deep. Sound Vista Executive Director Jerry Lee helped Nilsen modify his boxes for senior residents. Lee met Nilsen at a Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce event and arranged for Nilsen to bring a mock planter prototype to the facility. Together they determined a good accessible height using a wheelchair and a measuring tape. They recruited residents to pretend to use the garden boxes so they were not too tall. We wanted a "planter box for everybody's needs: walkers, wheelchairs, short or tall-as user friendly as possible," says Lee. Nilsen spent a Saturday planting with resident gardener and also donated a planter station where gardeners can work on potting. "When they get their hands in the soil, that's a therapeutic thing," Lee said, "He did a phenomenal job." Pictured above: Magnus Nilsen, a woodworker who lives on the Key Peninsula, assists a resident at Sound Vista Village using a potting bench that he designed specifically for wheelchair access. |
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