Taking Care Of The Gardener
 

Let's be honest - gardening is darned hard work at times.  So, we have to take care of ourselves .  No one can garden well with a painful sore back.  Protect yourself with these tips......
 

We gardeners have a lot to take care of whether it be vegetable gardens, orchards, flower gardens, herb beds, container gardens, patio gardens, landscaping, mowing the grass, maintaining our compost heaps or just getting ready for the different seasons.

However, who takes care of the gardener? No one, really, except the gardener him or her self. With that in mind, here is some good sound gardener advice.

Remember to wear a hat when out in the gardens working and make sure it is a broad brim hat. You guy gardeners should do also. I see so many people working outside without a hat. Many of us say, "Well, I will just pop out for a couple of minutes." Please, even a couple of minutes may be too long out in the sun.

Remember to wear sun screen now or you will be regretting it later.

Keep a bottle of water handy for drinking. You need as much water working outside as your plants need to grow. Do not become dehydrated.

Keep a wagon or wheel barrow handy to haul your heavy items around. Don't lift by bending over, lift from the knees and you won't have to worry about wrenched backs or a pinched sciatic nerve.

Wear gloves when working in the garden and it will save your hands and fingernails. I have all sorts of gloves for the garden chores. I especially like the long sleeved gloves for working in the rose gardens.

Work early mornings or early evenings during your hot months and you will probably enjoy gardening more and not give yourself a sun stroke.

Pace yourself. A gardener's chores are never done, so do not try to do it all in one day. Keep the pleasure of gardening in your heart by working smarter, not harder. I find that making myself a list each day and allocating so much time to each chore makes everything more "do-able" for me and it might help you also.

Give your knees a break by using knee pads or some kind of thick foam pad you can move as you work along. I see them all the time for only $1.00 in the dollar stores.

Don't bite off more than you can chew or in other words start you gardening venture small and remember as you increase it so will your labor. Remember at one point you may not be able to get reliable help and you will wind up feeling very bad as your garden goes to weed for lack of good help if you create more gardens than you can personally care for.

 

"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime may your day be filled with Peace, Light & Love

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