In many endeavors, an individual will choose the easiest, most comfy way by which to accomplish his picked task. An artist painting a splendid sundown, shimmering delicately over a lake, will use the best quality artist's brush made of camel hair, not a home painter's 3" large, artificially bristled brush. In the kitchen area, why slice vegetables till your hands remain in considerable discomfort when there is a food mill waiting to do the task, freeing you from the tedium, and the additional pain in the back that comes from standing interminably at the cooking area counter, questioning to yourself if your recipe truly requires a complete cup of finely diced celery?
And why would anyone utilize a manual typewriter that has absolutely no features to boast about, other than causing carpal tunnel syndrome or muscle convulsions, that come from the repetitive motion of striking the keys with force when, in the other room, sits a modern computer system with all the bells and whistles, capable of doing almost everything for you but actually compose the text that you want? I do not think I might start to be sufficiently proficient (more like bumbling) if I had to worry about setting margins and spacing, and attempting to find out where to put that *% @ # "e" inadvertently missing out on in cheese [sic] without damaging any semblance to correct space placement.
The exact same thing is true with gardening. You do not utilize a shovel when a much lighter weight spade will do. And you do not spend an hour, bent over a flower bed, without causing grievous pain to your back and shoulders, when you might be utilizing an ergonomically created kneeler pad particularly crafted to keep your knees on speaking terms with the rest of your body.
Any garden enthusiast, newbie or professional, needs a fundamental set of tools. As holds true with any job or pastime needing specialized tools or paraphernalia, to garden you must amass for yourself a set of good quality tools which will not break down with the smallest provocation. Plus, you owe it to yourself to obtain the most comfortable tools within your spending plan. It is much better to buy simply a few of the essentials before you start salivating at the sight of "designer" garden tools. At this point, more is not always much better. Pick wisely.
The first classification of ergonomically developed garden tools consists of SPADES, TROWELS, CULTIVATORS, and SHOVELS. A SPADE is used for digging or cutting the ground. It has a sharp-edged metal blade and a long manage. A TROWEL is essentially a small spade, used for raising plants or soil. A GROWER is used to prepare the soil for a garden.
A STANDARD or GARDEN TROWEL, a very flexible hand tool, can do lots of tasks such as digging and forming holes, hollowing or leveling out soil, and close-up weeding. A TRANSPLANTING TROWEL, with its narrow design, is the perfect tool for digging deep and/or narrow holes for planting seedlings. It is also excellent for eliminating root balls easily, with no damage to the plant or neighboring areas. Some transplanting trowels have measurements marked on the trowel so the garden enthusiast can dig to the correct depth for planting seeds. An incredibly flexible tool, the CULTIVATOR, with its 3 extended prongs, is perfect for numerous jobs. It can be used to loosen and prepare soil, extract immature weeds, modify the soil with compost or fertilizer, and to aerate the soil to make watering more effective. A long-handled ROUND POINT SHOVEL can make or break your garden. You can accomplish anything and whatever with this type of shovel. It is perfect for turning ground or scooping soil, along with for producing planting holes, filling in holes, and for carting away dirt loosened by another tool.
The next group of gardening tools consists of PRUNERS, SHEARS, and LOPPERS. HAND PRUNERS are rather beneficial. They are perfectly suited for removing dead or broken branches from increased bushes and shrubs, and they can cut through thin branches. Other usages can include cutting down perennials, and gathering herbs and flowers. I have discovered, from individual experience, to keep the blades clean and honed, otherwise you will find yourself with an armful of mangled increased stems, hanging half on and half off the bush. Not a quite sight. I'm really territorial about my increased pruners and really do not like sharing them with others. If the pruner fits ...
There are various styles of SHEARS readily available. Usually speaking, shears are big clipping or cutting instruments shaped like scissors. YARD SHEARS are developed to enter into areas difficult to be cut by the lawn mower, such as around tree trunks and flower beds, and to trim the lawn's edges. HEDGE SHEARS and turf shears are alike, but the hedge shears have longer blades. This tool is good when trimming hedges and shrubs. In the Fall, it can be found in quite convenient when cutting back perennials and likewise when clipping off dead flower heads.
LOPPERS have long deals with in order to prune back or cut off branches from a tree or other such woody plants. They are able to cut through branches up to 2 inched in size.
Another crucial grouping of garden tools is comprised of WEEDERS and EDGERS. WEEDERS do simply that; they collect weeds. A weeder includes a long metal handle ending in finger like forecasts or scrapers that have been honed to facilitate piercing the earth and bring up long, straggling weeds up and away by cutting them off below the surface. It rather looks like a BARBEQUE fork. LAWN EDGERS are used to keep flower beds and bushes maintained in their proper contours. Generally, an edger will assist define the garden borders by chilling out yard impinging onto walkways, stepping stones, flower beds, and around the circular space surrounding the diameter of a tree.
There are two fundamental types of RAKES: the BOW RAKE and the LEAF RAKE. The BOW RAKE is a standard in any garden. Sturdily constructed with sturdy steel tines, it is utilized to move and smooth soil. It is also useful for drawing up raised flower or vegetable beds or mounding soil around plants. It is important to "capture and toss" garden particles. LEAF RAKES have versatile plastic or aluminum tines. It is not as heavy as the bow rake but is ideal for gathering spread leafs, grass clippings, and so forth. Both rakes have long deals with so no flexing is involved.
Do not forget to select a WATERING CAN, a HOSE with a HOSE PIPE REEL and NOZZLE, a ROLLING GARDEN CART/SEAT and a KNEELER. A WATERING CAN has a long spout, allowing you to water your flowers and shrubs from a brief range away while still standing. They do tend to feel quite heavy - water weighs 8-1/3 pounds. per gallon - so look for a watering can that is made from lighter weight materials, such as aluminum or a strong plastic, that is well constructed. A great quality HOSE is important for your garden and your peace of mind, unless you are especially keen on carrying that heavy watering can around to water your yard. Do not pinch cents on a tube; purchase the very best quality tube you can discover so you will not be spending your weekends providing first help to all those holes and leaks that appear to reveal themselves the minute you avert. A hose pipe made of rubber must be your best option. Some are even strengthened from the inside with a product implied to flex with the pipe. You will need a NOZZLE of plastic or metal; metal will definitely last longer and irritate you less. A TUBE REEL will make your life so much simpler. How many times have you tripped over a pipe that has been carelessly dropped in serpentine tangles all over the driveway? Try to buy a hose pipe that is of sufficient length to reach from the spigot to the point furthest away on your property where you may need water.
Last, however certainly not least, are the GARDENING STOOL and the KNEELER. These two devices are created for those people who are not rather as mobile as we when were. The GARDENING STOOL assists remove back and knee pain by offering a surface upon which to sit while doing gardening chores that generally need standing in one location and/or bending. The stool usually is geared up with wheels and a storage area for your tools, and even has a holder for your water bottle. There is another type of gardening stool resembling a round hassock but it is installed on a spring system that enables the gardener to sit and reach in all instructions without having to get up to reposition the stool. Sadly, this 2nd type of stool tends to be extremely pricey.
The KNEELER, a padded surface in the shape of a stiff swing seat, is developed to take the ground's hardness away from your bad aching knees. A variation of the kneeler is as described above however with grab bars on either side of the cushion to help with standing when you have completed working in that part of your garden. Both models reduce pressure on the knees, specifically valuable for arthritics.
Most likely among the most effective products, ergonomically speaking, is the ADD-ON HANDLE. It structurally customizes conventionally created garden tools in a manner that provides the tool an ergonomic grip. It can be utilized with hand tools such as trowels and spades, rakes, hoes, and brooms. An arm assistance cuff for increased control and take advantage of is likewise readily available. Both the handle and the cuff are detachable and can be used on the tools discussed above. There are likewise long reach farmers for those who should work from a seated position, particularly wheelchair users.
A few final thoughts:
You should treat your body as a shrine. Flexing improperly is the same as taking a sledge hammer to your shrine. Both are destructive.
It is easy to make a quick move without believing. I can not count the variety of times my doctor has actually fussed at me for simply that factor.
When RAKING or HOEING, try to keep the tools near to your body. Keep your back straight. Use your arms and NEVER twist your trunk (my physician's very bone of contention - I still feel guilty when he catches me). If you are short, utilize long-handled tools in scale with your height. The same holds true for high people.
Do not consider bending from the waist. This spotlights is where the KNEELER or the KNEELER WITH GRAB BARS can be found in mighty useful. When WEEDING, use long-handled tools to alleviate the stress on your back, legs, and knees. Forget bending over to TROWEL; think about squatting or resting on the ground.
When SHOVELING or DIGGING, step on the top of the blade as you vertically place the head of the shovel in the ground. Raise only small loads, flexing at the knees. Never ever include your back when lifting. Again, avoid twisting your trunk. This will become your mantra. Use as little of a shovel as possible to sufficiently finish your job. Once again, match your shovel to your body size.
Do not press your physical limitations when lifting or carrying. Bend from the knees, however not your back and keep the load close to your body. Prevent twisting or reaching. Noise familiar?
Get as close as possible to your work. Do not require your reach beyond your convenience zone. More notably, do not extend beyond your stable footing! On a personal note, stretching can be deleterious to your health if you have not organized your footing to your finest benefit. To beginning this cautionary tale, due to having Degenerative Disc Illness for many years, my chief mode of transport is my dependable wheelchair. I likewise use bilateral leg braces which offer me some assistance when standing. A few summer seasons ago, I believed it would be good to raid my increased garden to dress up the dining-room table as we were anticipating dinner guests that night. No one else was at home. Like a fool, I went out to my rose garden, equipped with my favorite pruning shears, thinking I would like to cut at least a lots stunning roses (we have over 50 bushes). I was wearing rather baggy shorts that rippled in the breeze. Both my legs were ensconced in their braces. Espying a particularly wonderful increased, I reached forward toward the bush. I thought my feet were firmly planted atop the redwood chips surrounding the bushes. Young boy, was I incorrect! As I grabbed the stem to be clipped, each foot went in an opposite instructions, propelling me towards all those countless deadly thorns. With severe accuracy, I was thrust directly onto the bush. Correction. I was impaled upon the rose bush, put behind bars by those menacing thorns in a bent-over, face-in-the-bush position. Doomed by my thorn-snagged shorts, I was actually debilitated. My neighbor and his sibling came trotting throughout the street to untangle me. Speak about embarrassment, not to discuss the blood oozing out from the zillion thorn holes on my body. I was the picture of elegance, not. I thanked them for their help and red-facedly slunk back into your home. I can honestly say that from that point on, I stop to consider all choices before even approaching anything in my garden. I had certainly discovered my lesson and hope this tale will remind you to plan ahead whenever your body mechanics are included.