Column: Gardening with arthritis

I was recently requested to steer a senior’s workshop on gardening with arthritis. I concept that I had some know-how of this subject matter as I have been stricken with arthritis in my arms since my early 40s.

Even with palms that chatter at me each day and permit me to recognize they are now not too glad for me, I can be observed most days as much as my elbows in dust digging, pulling, pruning, and weeding.

We all recognize how precious gardening is for our bodies and our minds. Gardening also helps hold flexibility and mobility. Studies keep revealing that gardening makes you feel renewed internally!

I don’t even consider what it is probably like to desperately try to get right into a lawn while dealing with a painful incapacity. I might think that having to cope with the ramifications of trying to spend time on a lawn might put a few people off doing something.

But with a little notion, planning, and some bucks, we will all enjoy our garden and the work it takes to get it how we need it.

Before taking on any task, consider what you’ll be doing, what positions you may want to take to perform the obligations, and the gear required to help you. Get all that you need to be equipped earlier than beginning the tasks. With the wide variety of ergonomic lawn tools and systems available, all degrees of non-disabled parents can get into their gardens comfortably with much less joint strain and physical stress.

It can be as easy as having a chair to rest in occasionally or a kneeling pad to protect your knees.

Find the best way to transport your chosen equipment around the garden, from gardening luggage, trays, and trugs to wheelbarrows and carts attached to wheelchairs.

I am positive many of you’ve heard the announcement that an “employee is handiest as good as his/her tools.” Well, that applies to able-bodied, disabled, and in-between gardeners too.

You can avoid overreaching or bending down by choosing tools with long handles. Tools are available for all varieties of disabilities, providing one-of-a-kind angled handle grips so parents with arthritic fingers can nonetheless garden. You can make conventional tools less complicated by sliding some plumbing insulation tubing over the grip area, making it softer to handle. Even watering your vegetation may be tough with the squeeze-kind hose attachments. The plumbing insulation tubing expands the location and makes it smoother to grip.

There is now a whole range of gardening chairs to be had. Those that assist in relaxing the legs and easing stresses on your knees and wheels make it simpler to transport around the garden. Some are designed to be folded up and carried around with you. (I use a little blue kiddie stool from Ikea when I garden). Many of the gardening chairs also have garage areas for equipment.

Raised beds offer gardeners the physical freedom to experience their preferred hobby without having to bend, kneel, or stand for a longer period. Some of the raised beds come with attached seats and places to store lawn equipment. Many local hardware stores sell raised vegetable trugs that can even be positioned on a patio or balcony.

Many gears are now restricted to bending, which includes lengthy dealing with Dutch hoes, weeding tools, and planting equipment that can be achieved by standing up.

There are some high-quality ideas online that can help those with confined abilties to assist folks with inexperienced thumbs to continue with their passion.

As a chum of mine with rheumatoid arthritis in the course of his frame says to me at the same time as we lawn at our neighborhood park, “convey a chair to the garden, take lots of rest breaks, drink masses of water and experience your lifestyles.” I love his attitude!

Lynda Pasacreta is the current president of the Richmond Garden Club. Join her on Thursday, June 6, 1:00 – three:00pm, West Richmond Community Centre, 9180 No. 1 Road, Richmond. As part of the City of Richmond Seniors Week packages, she could be the guest speaker of a free workshop, “Gardening with Arthritis.”