Ways to Make Gardening Easier as You Age

Dear Savvy Senior,

What farming tips tin you connection to older seniors? I emotion to putter astir and activity successful nan garden, but my backmost and knees person caused maine to curtail my farming activities, which I miss greatly.

— Older Gardner

Dear Older,

There’s nary uncertainty that farming tin beryllium difficult connected an aging body. Joints stiffen up, kneeling for prolonged periods hurts, and bending and reaching tin strain muscles. But that doesn’t mean you person to springiness up your hobby. You conscionable request to plot differently, adhd immoderate typical devices and cognize your limits. Here are immoderate tips that whitethorn thief you.

Limber Up

With gardening, bully shape is very important arsenic good arsenic not overdoing immoderate 1 activity. A communal problem is that gardeners often kneel aliases squat, putting other unit connected their knees. Then, to spare their knees, they mightiness guidelines and crook complete for agelong stretches to weed, excavation and plant, straining their backmost and spine.

To thief protect your body, you request to lukewarm up earlier beginning. Start by stretching, focusing connected nan legs and little back. Keep changing positions and activities. Don’t walk hours weeding a flowerbed. After 15 minutes of weeding, you should guidelines up, stretch, and move to different activity for illustration pruning nan bushes aliases conscionable return a break.

It’s besides important that you admit your beingness limitations and don’t effort to do excessively overmuch each astatine once. When lifting heavier objects, retrieve to usage your legs to sphere your back. You tin do this by keeping nan point adjacent to your assemblage and squatting to support your backmost arsenic vertical arsenic possible.

Get Better Tools

The correct farming instrumentality tin thief too. Kneeling pads tin protect knees, and plot seats aliases stools are some backmost and knee savers. Lightweight plot carts tin make hauling bags of mulch, dirt, plants aliases different dense objects overmuch easier. And long-handled farming and weeding devices tin thief easiness nan strain connected nan backmost by keeping you successful a opinionated upright position versus bent over.

There are besides ergonomic farming and pruning devices pinch fatter handles and different creation features that tin make section and plot activities a small easier. Fiskars and Felco make a number of specialty devices that you tin bargain online aliases astatine section unit stores that waste section and plot supplies. Also cheque retired Gardeners.com and RadiusGarden.com, 2 online stores that waste specialized farming devices and instrumentality that are very adjuvant to older gardeners.

Make Watering Easier

The chore of carrying h2o aliases handling a heavy, awkward hose tin besides beryllium difficult for older gardeners. Some adjuvant options see lightweight cloth aliases expandable hoses alternatively of dense rubber hoses; soaker aliases drip hoses that tin beryllium snaked passim nan garden; bladed coil hoses that tin beryllium utilized connected nan patio aliases mini areas; a hose caddy and reel for easier hose carrier astir nan yard; and a self-winding hose thorax that puts nan hose up automatically. There are besides a assortment of ergonomic watering wands that are lightweight, easy to grip, and scope those hard-to-get-to plants.

To find these types of watering immunodeficiency cheque pinch your section section and plot supplies stores aliases sojourn Gardeners.com.

Bring nan Garden to You

If your backyard plot has go excessively overmuch to handle, you should see elevated plot beds aliases instrumentality farming – utilizing large pots, model boxes, hanging baskets, barrels aliases tub planters. This is simply a overmuch easier measurement to plot because it eliminates overmuch of nan crook and strain of farming but still provides nan pleasance of making things grow.

Send your elder questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, aliases sojourn SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is simply a contributor to nan NBC Today show and writer of “The Savvy Senior” book.