I hate to admit this even to myself, much less make it public, but this year I had physical limitations that changed the way I garden. I slipped on the ice last winter and unknowingly broke my back. It took many months for the pain to present itself, but when it did, oh boy! Gardening demands a lot from a body – digging, hoeing, lifting, turning compost, raking, bending, squatting, hauling hoses or sprinkling cans, pulling and tugging weeds. It all used to be so easy, but not this year. The pain made me very aware that not everyone may be able to follow all of the gardening advice I give as a Master Gardener.
I had to let some gardening activities go. I love to weed, but this year I’d look down at a weed and think how much pain I’d feel if I were to squat down, pull the weed, and get back up. Harvesting low-growing vegetables was difficult too and many strawberries, green beans and tomatoes were left to wither. Plants weren’t watered as often as I’d have liked them to be. At the end of the season, I wasn’t able to dig trenches in the garden and bury all the spent vegetable plants and flower stems to decompose underground as I normally do. This year I just spread the plants atop the soil and covered them with leaves to overwinter.
There are many tools and techniques that make it easier for people with various disabilities to continue gardening. Raised beds and container gardening allow you to avoid bending and kneeling. Soaker hoses that stay in place all season intertwined among garden plants eliminate the need to carry sprinkling cans or move heavy hoses.
Rolling stools, kneelers with sturdy handles, and foam knee pads ease the strain on knees and backs. Several companies make tools with extended handles so that cultivating, weeding and raking can be done even from a wheelchair.
Tools made from lighter weight materials, with softer grips, or smarter designs can help those with arthritis. Covering tool handles with the foam that is sold for insulating hot water pipes and wrapping them with hockey tape makes gripping them easier.
Carrying tools around the yard in a lightweight wagon or hooking them onto the top of a 5-gallon bucket not only makes finding them easier, but lets you avoid bending down to the ground to grab them.
Changing the landscape to include mostly perennial plants helps avoid the up and down bending, squatting, kneeling and digging necessary to plant annuals year after year.
While my yard and garden this year weren’t as nicely kept as I’d have liked them to be, no neighbors complained and my freezer is full. So I’d mark the year as a success. And I learned the most difficult but important lesson of all: to ask for help with tasks that I no longer can or should do.
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