Garden longer with less muscle strain, fatigue

That first full day in the gar­den may find you tired, sun­burned, and stiff. Whether you are a young or young-at-heart gardener, include some strate­gies to help extend your enjoy­ment and reduce fatigue and muscle strain so you can keep gardening longer each day and for years to come.

No matter your age, it’s im­portant to protect your joints when gardening. Use a kneel­er pad or knee pads to protect your knees. Knee pads secured to your legs allow you to conve­niently and comfortably protect your knees as you move from one garden bed to another.

If you need help kneeling, consider a garden kneeler with handles. The handles provide needed support when kneeling and standing up. The ones that can be flipped over and used as a garden bench provide double the benefit. The seating posi­tion reduces bending and helps minimize the need to kneel.

Elevating your garden can al­so help. It is a great way to save space and eliminate the need to bend when planting, weeding, and harvesting. Elevated gar­dens and raised beds also offer a place to garden where planting space is limited or nonexistent. You’ll enjoy planting and har­vesting with minimal weeding needed. Just be sure to moni­tor soil moisture and water as needed. Use self-watering con­tainers, add irrigation or em­ploy water-extending products to help lengthen the time be­tween watering.

Further expand planting op­tions by dressing up walls, fences, and more with vertical gardens. Monitor soil moisture in wall-mounted gardens regu­larly as many have limited soil that dries out quickly.

Clean and sharpen your tools, including pruning equipment, digging and weeding tools. This allows you to make cuts more easily and dig into the soil and weed with less effort.

Consider investing in ergo­nomic tools designed for comfort to help prolong your time in the garden. Select lightweight tools with non-slip comfortable grip handles aligned to keep your wrist extension straight, which helps reduce muscle strain.

Use pruners with ratchet­ing, compound, or Dual Link action for more cutting power with less effort. You’ll be able to spend more time pruning with less muscle strain and fatigue. Consider investing in shovels with an anti-skid plate above the blade, providing more foot support for more digging power. Or retrofit an existing shovel with a commercially available anti-skid foot plate.

Don’t overlook the importance of protecting your hands as well when gardening. Quality gar­dening gloves provide support and protection when digging, planting, pruning, and more.

Start with some preseason training. Every gardener knows gardening is a workout and of­ten involves different motions and muscles than other exercis­es. Always warm up your mus­cles and do a bit of stretching before getting out in the garden.

Enlist the help of wheeled carts and wagons to move plants, mulch, soil, and other heavy loads. Don’t be afraid to break heavy loads into smaller batches or ask for help. You’ll spare your muscles and prob­ably save time in the long run.

Wear a pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes and don’t forget the sunscreen. Take fre­quent breaks and drink plenty of water.

Preseason planning and prep­aration can help reduce muscle strain as the garden season begins. You’ll boost your enjoy­ment and be able to garden lon­ger.

Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.