Let’s face it,
gardeners age. Or, are afflicted with illnesses that can make gardening more
difficult and less enjoyable. However, thanks to creative and inventive minds,
there are now a wide variety of excellent tools and techniques to take some of
the aches and pains out of gardening.
Following are a
few techniques we’ve found that offer great advice for improving your gardening
ability despite physical limitations. Special thanks to the Chicago Botanic Garden
for all the examples they show in their Buehler Enabling
Garden.
1. Know your
limits. Be aware of just how much physical activity you can manage and ask for
help when needed.
2. Use the right
tools (see samples below).
3. Act like an
athlete! In other words, do a little warm-up activity before you begin
gardening and give yourself a nice stretch after as well.
4. Try
containers and raised bed gardening for less digging, shoveling and bending.
5. Using soaker
hoses, drip irrigation and
timers eliminate the daily task of unwinding and rewinding heavy and cumbersome
hoses.
6. Weeding after
a rain or thorough watering makes it easier to get the weed roots without
straining.
7. Keep tools
sharp for easier (and safer) cutting.
8. Use
ergonomically designed tools with longer handles for less stretching and bending. Pad the tool handles with
foam if needed.
9. Use wagons to
carry items around the garden rather than lifting and carrying. Create paths of
a durable surface to make moving things back and forth in those wagons much
easier.
10. Mount
hanging baskets on pulleys to make it easier to raise and lower the plants for
watering and maintenance care.
Here are some
additional products from National Garden Bureau members that will help make
gardening easier:
Ho-MiCultivator, from The Cook’s Garden
Pro Hand Seeder,
from The Cook’s Garden
The Grow Box,
from Garden Patch
Kneeler seat,
from W. Atlee Burpee
Ergonomicloppers, from Thompson & Morgan
Handy Caddy,
from Territorial Seeds
Long HandledTools, from Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Raised bed kit,
from Harris Seeds
AutomaticPressure Pump Sprayer, from Park Seed
Garden Kneelers,
from Gardener’s Supply
Stand-upErgonomic Tiller, from Gardener’s Supply
