I’ve adapted my old favourite trowels

Earlier this year we talked to Cilla who had been feeling low after the death of her mother. Gardening had always been an outlet for her but with worsening arthritis at the time we spoke she had been finding some of the tasks were getting too hard and she was wondering if her gardening days were limited.

Cilla is married and she and her husband have enjoyed gardening since retiring a couple of years ago, especially in the warmer months. Having a nice garden was also something she had always counted on to be able to entertain outdoors and although restrictions this year had limited the opportunities this summer she was disappointed at the prospect of standards slipping.

Osteoarthritis affects her hands and knees and so kneeling to weed or plant new bulbs was becoming a major issue. At the same time she had been watching her husband carry out the heavy lifting that comes with maintaining a garden and she was missing the quality time of working together in the outdoors. 

Cilla found that a mixture of things would do the trick: handgrips and attachments could be added to existing tools and this meant she could keep using the old favourites. The product pages of Living Made Easy list a number of solutions including gripping aids, support cuffs and easy-grip handles.

When it comes to kneeling there are a number of products some of which are easily portable. She chose a lightweight one that folds up, deciding that a wheeled one was not for her. Cilla was surprised that several of the options were quite nicely designed and she found that sitting on the kneeler was also a good idea for some tasks such as low level pruning.

Finding the right tools to keep on gardening kept Cilla active and healthy.

To view our range of digging, raking and planting products click here.