Gardening Made Easy

With the start of summer and warmer weather hopefully around the corner it’s the perfect time to tend to your garden to create that supper spot to relax in, or invite friends and family over. 

Gardening can be an enjoyable and therapeutic hobby, providing both emotional and physical self-care. If ageing or a disability make gardening difficult or uncomfortable there are plenty of options to help make it easier.  

• Raised flower beds can reduce the need to be to bend, reducing the possibility of strain or injury. The gardening for health charity Thrive recommends that the ideal height is between 60-100 cm depending on whether you are standing sitting or using a wheelchair. These can come in all shapes and sizes, and as either pre-assembled items or in kits.
• Even without raising planting areas, adapting the design of your garden can also make gardening dramatically easier. Wider paths with reduced width of flower beds can also help to reduce the need to over-stretch and over-reach.
• Grouping pots together can make for easier watering
• Having a number of water-buts around the garden can help to reduce the distance you have to walk when refilling the watering can and thus reduce fatigue.
• Gardening is great exercise and remembering to take the time to warm up and stretch before and after gardening can help to reduce the risk of injury and muscle pain.

There are a wide range of products that can help you to have your garden ready for summer. Specifically designed ergonomic handles  can help to keep your hands and wrists in their most natural position. This can help to relieve wrist or hand pain and strain, reducing wrist or hand cramps after gardening. If you already have favourite gardening tools you could consider add-on products like Easi-Grip handles, making your existing tools more ergonomically friendly.

To take pressure off your knees and reduce pain, you can also use a kneeler or a stool, or even a two in one such as the Garden Kneeler which acts as a padded kneeler or a portable, foldable seat / perching stool. 

If you struggle with grip strength or need to do tasks one handed you can use an arm support such as the Easi-Grip arm support cuff. Using an arm support such as this can give you added strength, whilst minimising the pressure on your hand and wrist. Gardening can even be completed one handed and with greater comfort and control. 

To prevent over-stretching and over-reaching, extenders and long reach tools are also available. These can help when gardening from a seated position and minimise the need to bend. 

This article was sponsored by Manage At Home - Your Online Medequip Retail Store. 

You can find more support on Gardening in the following categories: 

• Digging, raking, and planting
• Pruning and cutting
• Gardening tool sets
• Wheelbarrows and watering equipment 
• Kneeling stools 
• Gardening furniture 

We trust that you have found this Hints and Tips article on Gardening useful. Please do share it if you know someone who might find this information and the products helpful. Our target is to reach 5 million individuals by 2022 so please do help us to spread the word socially. You can copy and paste the link to this article in your social channel or email it to a friend who may find it useful. 

To find out facts about disability and gardening visit Thrive. 

If you would like more information about any of the products highlighted, click on the Bold Text or the image captions or browse through our product categories at your leisure. 

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