How to Make Gardening Easier as You Age
Gardening can be harder on your body as you get older, but there are simple changes you can make so you don’t have to give up your hobby.
Dear Savvy Senior,
What gardening tips can you offer to older seniors? I love to putter around and work in the garden, but my back and knees have caused me to curtail my gardening activities, which I miss greatly.
—Older Gardner
Dear Older,
There’s no doubt that gardening can be hard on an aging body. Joints stiffen up, kneeling for prolonged periods hurts, and bending and reaching can strain muscles. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up your hobby. You just need to garden differently, add some special tools and know your limits. Here are some tips that may help you.
LIMBER UP
With gardening, good form is very important as well as not overdoing any one activity. A common problem is that gardeners often kneel or squat, putting extra pressure on their knees. Then, to spare their knees, they might stand and bend over for long stretches to weed, dig and plant, straining their back and spine.
To help protect your body, you need to warm up before beginning. Start by stretching, focusing on the legs and lower back. And keep changing positions and activities. Don’t spend hours weeding a flowerbed. After 15 minutes of weeding, you should stand up, stretch, and switch to another activity like pruning the bushes or just take a break.
It’s also important that you recognize your physical limitations and don’t try to do too much all at once. And, when lifting heaver objects, remember to use your legs to preserve your back. You can do this by keeping the item close to your body and squatting to keep your back as vertical as possible.
LABORSAVING TOOLS
The right gardening equipment can help too. Kneeling pads can protect knees, and garden seats or stools are both back and knee savers. Lightweight garden carts can make hauling bags of mulch, dirt, plants or other heavy objects much easier. And long-handled gardening tools can help ease the strain on the back by keeping you in a standing upright position versus bent over. There are also ergonomic gardening tools with fatter handles and other design features that can make lawn and garden activities a little easier.
EASIER WATERING
The chore of carrying water or handling a heavy, awkward hose can also be difficult for older gardeners. Some helpful options include lightweight fabric hoses instead of heavy rubber hoses; soaker or drip hoses that can be snaked throughout the garden; thin coil hoses that can be used on the patio or small areas; a hose caddy and reel for easier hose transport around the yard; and a self-winding hose chest that puts the hose up automatically. There are also a variety of ergonomic watering wands that are lightweight, easy to grip, and reach those hard to-get-to plants.
To find ergonomic gardening tools and the recommended watering aids, check with local retail stores that sell lawn and garden supplies or try online retailers like Gardeners.com or RadiusGarden.com.
CONTAINER GARDENING
If your backyard garden has become too much to handle, you should consider elevated garden beds or container gardening – using big pots, window boxes, hanging baskets, barrels or tub planters. This is a much easier way to garden because it eliminates much of the bend and strain of gardening but still provides the pleasure of making things grow. Trellises are another nice option that would allow you to garden vertically instead of horizontally.
