Safe Gardening Tips for Seniors

Gardening might have been a passion for you throughout your life. During your teenage years, you could have tended to your plants for hours at end, needing little or no help from others. Things would have changed somewhat when you were in your 60s, when you might have needed someone to hold you or act as a helping hand. After all, as you age, your physical strength decreases, and pain in the joints or other ailments, if any, won’t allow you to work in the garden for long periods of time. So, when you are in your 70s, you should remember that even though your tomato vines grow higher, your knees won’t allow you to climb the ladder. While it would not be feasible to do away with your hobby, altogether, it is advisable to take some safety measures for gardening.

Here are some safe gardening tips for seniors that might help you to continue gardening with passion while maintaining a safe and sound health –

• Make some changes in your work plan – First of all, it is important to accept that you are no longer able to do all those activities that you were used to, earlier in your life. No matter, what the tasks are, you won’t be able to complete all of them in a single day. So, while setting your gardening goals, go easy on yourself. Don’t try to finish everything in one go, or in a day. Rather, make sure to take breaks in between your gardening sessions. Remember - most accidents happen due to tiredness and lack of attention. Hence, schedule your gardening activities in a way that won’t be tiring for you.
• Use the right tools and in the right manner – Give away the heavy steel tools as it would be difficult for you to handle them on your own. Look for lightweight hand tools with ergonomic designs and resilient rubber handles so that you would need to put less effort while handling them. Tools with offset handles make the task of digging and weeding way easier. You can make them more comfortable by covering them with foam tubing. Make sure that all the tools are absolutely clean and sharp so that they work perfectly; look for pruners that perform ratcheting action as it needs less hand strength.
• Warm up before starting the tasks – Treat gardening like an exercise and warm yourself up before starting all those operations. Take a walk around your garden or do some light stretching movements. Do some large arm circles and stretch your neck, shoulders and legs. Also, work on your hand, back and knees, and do some light pushups and cat stretch to keep the muscles fit and get them ready to bear the somewhat strenuous gardening activities.
• Do a safety check of your garden – This is immensely important as even a little carelessness might lead you to suffer some serious accidents. Ask one of your friends or family members to take a walk around the yard to check if everything is perfectly settled. Check out if any rocks, roots, loose steps are there, or if the ground is uneven somewhere. If there is anything amiss, make it a point to fix it up right away. Wear sturdy pants, long sleeves, and use gloves to prevent the nasty scratches, that can be caused by stickers or branches. This will also help you avoid direct exposure to the chemicals and their hazardous reactions. Put a pair of goggles as it will help you protect your eyes from a snapping branch.

Armed with this checklist, you would be ready to enjoy gardening even during your golden years.

Read the original article here: