Carry on gardening!
Follow these tips and you can keep tending to your plot, whatever life throws at you!
Gardening’s good for you! It has been proven to keep you fit and healthy and happy and fulfilled, and we all want to keep going as long as possible. The rise of ‘nature therapy’ recommended by doctors in recent years shows how much value we’re finally starting to put into gardening and being outdoors. But sometimes life gets in the way with age, aches and pains, sprains and illnesses hindering our progress. So how can gardeners keep going against all odds? Here are a few pointers to help…
1 GET ALL TOOLED UP
If you find some places hard to reach or struggle to pick things up there are so many tools out there to help you, such as long-reach bulb planters, secateurs with extra grip, garden grippers and pot movers, all of which take the strain out of heavy or fiddly items. Sowing seeds is one job that needs nimble fingers, but did you know you can buy seed sowers that you squeeze to release one seed at a time? There’s also a mouth-operated seed sowing tool available that you blow to release each seed! Use add-on grips to hand hoes and trowels to take any effort out of weeding. Visit www.carryongardening.org.uk as part of the Thrive charity’s website to find more tools to help those who are less able.
2 ALWAYS GET HELP IF YOU NEED IT
Don’t struggle with a tricky garden – gardening should be a joy, not something you dread as the years pass. Hire a gardener, get your grandchildren involved, or even better, turn your veg plot into a community garden, with keen volunteers coming in to help you. They can always get paid in parsnips! You can provide the tea and coffee, and adopt the role of head gardener, delegating all the tough bits while keeping the less strenuous jobs for yourself. Know a keen young horticulturist wanting some good garden practice? Invite them in to work on your plot, so they can learn from the best in the business.
3 KEEP IT LOW MAINTENANCE!
Your choice of plants will help you immensely. If you love to garden, but hate all that full-on maintenance work, switch your planting round a bit. Remove tiresome hedges and replace with fencing, and grow really easy maintenance plants. Even deciduous plants can be a nuisance, shedding their leaves so you have to spend time clearing them up – hardy evergreens are much less trouble. Relax your weeding and let the grass grow longer. Choose slowgrowing plants and shrubs, such as phormiums and rhododendrons for example, that take little time to nip and tuck, and gain better control of your garden by growing in containers.
4 BUILD RAISED BEDS
Plants at a reachable level are much more manageable than those at ground level. If you’re in for a garden design shake-up to make your life easier, one of the best things you can do is to give your beds and borders over to raised beds. If you’re able to stand well for any length of time, raise them to waist height. If you’re in a wheelchair, make ‘table’ beds, with room underneath to park yourself. Or simply add wide areas of seating to your raised beds so you can take a seat while you work. Visit www.woodblocx.co.uk (tel: 0800 389 1420) for a wide range of accessible raised beds.
5 PLAN MORE EFFICIENTLY
Get ready for your day’s gardening by helping yourself get everything you need for the job. Plan what you’ll need in what area and get everything set up beforehand – ask a family member or neighbour to move things to the right place if need be. Use little stools or kneelers to save aches and pains near the ground, and always use a tool belt to carry equipment around with you. Hand rails in strategic spots around the garden also offer added assistance. Set aside a little time beforehand to do some simple warm up exercises, such as bending and stretching, and always take lengthy breaks.