 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Enjoy Gardening at Any Age
English garden designer Gertrude
Jekyll wrote, "The love of gardening is a seed once sown never dies
. . ."
That first delicious spring day is a
temptress, luring all avid gardeners out of their winter doldrums and
calling them out to play. It’s the smell of fresh soil and those
little green sprouts popping up everywhere that makes gardeners come
back for more each spring. With eyes bright, a spring to their step and
trowel in hand, they head out for a weekend of joy in the dirt. By
Monday morning the stiffness sets in, aches and pains in long forgotten
muscles remind them that they are not as fit as they used to be.
As the baby boomer generation grows into
their middle years, they have the recreational time, income and desire
to embrace gardening as one of the fastest growing hobbies in North
America. At the same time, they are starting to experience arthritis,
carpal tunnel, backaches, and other infirmities that come with aging.
Horticulturalist, Karen York, author of “The
Holistic Garden, Creating Spaces for Health and Healing,”
recognizes the emotional and healing aspects of gardening, as an escape
from day-to-day stress, coping with depression, dealing with grief. She
also cites the physical benefits, “Even relatively light work such
as weeding, trimming or raking burns about 300 calories an hour.
Digging, hauling mulch and heavier work not only burns calories but also
improves muscle tone and bone strength.”
Garden Forever is a website that focuses
on the joys and therapeutic advantages of gardening and encourages the
fulfillment of the desire to garden forever. The aim is to garden
smarter so people can garden longer.
Garden tool manufacturers are finally
starting to recognize the needs of middle aged gardening enthusiasts.
Materials such as fiberglass added to nylon, create tools that are
extremely strong but also deceptively light, making them particularly
useful to those with limited arm and hand strength. Kneepads with gel
inside make a soft cushion around knees that are wearing down over the
years.
Gardenscape Tools caters to the baby
boomer generation. The people who work there, most of them in their
middle years, also find some of the tasks involved in gardening,
including kneeling, bending and lifting were getting more and more
difficult to do. In the late ‘90s they started searching for
ergonomic tools at the horticulture trade shows. The retailer now offers
an extensive line of gardening products called “enabling tools.”
Companies approach Gardenscape Tools with
new inventions that help make gardening easier. Recently the Louisville
Slugger company sent a sample pair of new gardening gloves. Designed by
a renowned hand surgeon, the gloves have anatomic relief pads to help
reduce vibration, callouses, blisters, and hand fatigue. One member of
the company, who had injured her wrist in the spring, wore the gloves
all last summer in her own garden and loved the comfort, support and
fit. They decided to put the Bionic Garden Gloves on the cover of
Gardenscape’s 2004 catalogue.
Horticulturalists, therapists,
manufacturers, and retailers are working together to produce
information, resources and tools to allow gardeners to continue doing
what they love to do -- garden.
If you have limited strength, trouble
getting around the garden or need to pace yourself, try some of these
tips to make the work easier.
Plants -- Choose plants carefully to
eliminate work. Use easy-to-care-for perennials that don’t need
constant division or watering; shrubs for borders rather than hedges
that need shaping and trimming; vines that grow up and eliminate the
need to garden on the ground; ground cover perennials to replace high
maintenance lawns.
Planters -- Garden in raised beds and
containers that require less bending and kneeling and can be maintained
from a sitting or standing position. Hanging baskets require little
weeding and maintenance but use a pulley system to make the daily
watering easier.
Exercise -- Stretch before you start and
don’t overdo any particular activity. Try to do a variety of tasks
each time rather than a whole day of one activity that is particularly
hard on underused muscles.
Tools -- Look for lightweight tools that
have ergonomic grips to ease hand and arm fatigue. If knees and back are
problems, choose a tool with a telescoping handle so that the tool does
the reaching for you. Try pruners with rotating handles that reduce
stress and strain on the hand and provide more cutting power with less
effort.
Protective devises -- Use braces for
wrists and back and pads for sore knees. Protect hands by wearing gloves
and adding foam padding to the handles of tools.
Plan Ahead -- Put tools, labels, seeds,
etc. in a bucket to avoid running back and forth to the tool shed. Have
a hose bid installed half way down the garden so you don’t have to
carry the hose out each time. Place benches and resting spots
strategically throughout the garden. They allow you the time to pause,
rest and enjoy the rewards of your work.
Use Nature -- Provide lots of organic
matter to the soil and the worms will do the digging. Provide bird
feeders and grow plants that encourage birds into the garden to control
pests. Mulch as often as possible to keep plants healthy and weeds away.
Get help -- Hire a student to do the heavy
digging and lifting. It will save you for the less physical jobs, will
help out a young person and maybe even start that seed of gardening
flourishing in the next generation.
|
 |
|
| |
