In many ventures, an individual will select the most convenient, most comfortable way by which to achieve his chosen task. An artist painting a splendid sunset, shimmering delicately over a lake, will utilize the best quality artist's brush made from camel hair, not a house painter's 3" large, artificially bristled brush. In the kitchen, why chop vegetables up until your hands are in significant pain when there is a food processor waiting to do the job, releasing you from the tedium, and the additional pain in the back that comes from standing interminably at the cooking area counter, wondering to yourself if your recipe really requires a full cup of finely diced celery?
And why would anyone use a manual typewriter that has definitely no features to boast about, other than causing carpal tunnel syndrome or muscle convulsions, that originated from the recurring movement of striking the keys with force when, in the other space, sits an advanced computer with all the bells and whistles, efficient in doing almost everything for you however actually compose the text that you desire? I do not believe I might start to be adequately proficient (more like bumbling) if I had to stress over setting margins and spacing, and attempting to find out where to put that *% @ # "e" accidentally missing out on in cheese [sic] without ruining any form to appropriate area positioning.
The same thing holds true with gardening. You do not use a shovel when a much lighter weight spade will do. And you do not invest an hour, bent over a flower bed, without triggering severe pain to your back and shoulders, when you could be utilizing an ergonomically designed kneeler pad specifically crafted to keep your knees on speaking terms with the rest of your body.
Any gardener, beginner or professional, needs a basic set of tools. As is the case with any job or activity needing specialized tools or stuff, to garden you must amass for yourself a set of great quality tools which will not fall apart with the slightest provocation. Plus, you owe it to yourself to acquire the most comfortable tools within your spending plan. It is much better to purchase just a few of the essentials prior to you start drooling at the sight of "designer" garden tools. At this point, more is not necessarily better. Select carefully.
The very first category of ergonomically designed garden tools includes SPADES, TROWELS, CULTIVATORS, and SHOVELS. A SPADE is utilized for digging or cutting the ground. It has a sharp-edged metal blade and a long deal with. A TROWEL is essentially a small spade, utilized for raising plants or soil. A FARMER is utilized to prepare the soil for a garden.
A REQUIREMENT or GARDEN TROWEL, a really flexible hand tool, can do many tasks such as digging and shaping holes, hollowing or leveling out soil, and close-up weeding. A TRANSPLANTING TROWEL, with its narrow style, is the perfect tool for digging deep and/or narrow holes for planting seedlings. It is also excellent for eliminating root balls easily, without any damage to the plant or neighboring areas. Some transplanting trowels have actually measurements marked on the trowel so the gardener can dig to the correct depth for planting seeds. A very versatile tool, the CULTIVATOR, with its 3 elongated prongs, is perfect for many jobs. It can be used to loosen up and prepare soil, extract immature weeds, amend the soil with garden compost or fertilizer, and to aerate the soil to make watering more efficient. A long-handled ROUND POINT SHOVEL can make or break your garden. You can achieve anything and everything with this type of shovel. It is ideal for turning ground or scooping soil, as well as for producing planting holes, filling out holes, and for carting away dirt loosened up by another tool.
The next group of gardening tools consists of PRUNERS, SHEARS, and LOPPERS. HAND PRUNERS are quite beneficial. They are completely matched for getting rid of dead or broken branches from rose bushes and shrubs, and they can cut through thin branches. Other uses can include cutting back perennials, and collecting herbs and flowers. I have found, from individual experience, to keep the blades tidy and honed, or else you will find yourself with an armful of mangled rose stems, hanging half on and half off the bush. Not a pretty sight. I'm very territorial about my rose pruners and truly do not like sharing them with others. If the pruner fits ...
There are various styles of SHEARS available. Typically speaking, shears are large clipping or cutting instruments shaped like scissors. TURF SHEARS are developed to enter areas hard to be cut by the mower, such as around tree trunks and flower beds, and to trim the yard's edges. HEDGE SHEARS and grass shears are alike, however the hedge shears have longer blades. This tool is good when cutting hedges and shrubs. In the Fall, it can be found in rather convenient when cutting down 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 approximately 2 inched in diameter.
Another essential grouping of garden tools is made up of WEEDERS and LAWN EDGERS. WEEDERS do simply that; they collect weeds. A weeder consists of a long metal deal with ending in finger like projections or scrapers that have actually been sharpened to facilitate piercing the earth and bring up long, straggling weeds up and away by cutting them off below the surface area. It rather looks like a BARBEQUE fork. LAWN EDGERS are used to keep flower beds and bushes kept in their proper shapes. Generally, an edger will help define the garden borders by chilling out grass impinging onto sidewalks, stepping stones, flower beds, and around the circular area surrounding the diameter of a tree.
There are 2 basic types of RAKES: the BOW RAKE and the LEAF RAKE. The BOW RAKE is a basic in any garden. Solidly constructed with strong steel tines, it is used to move and smooth soil. It is likewise beneficial for drawing up raised flower or vegetable beds or mounding soil around plants. It is vital to "capture and toss" garden particles. LEAF RAKES have versatile plastic or aluminum branches. It is not as heavy as the bow rake but is best for gathering spread leafs, grass clippings, etc. Both rakes have long deals with so no flexing is involved.
Do not forget to choose a WATERING CAN, a HOSE with a HOSE REEL and NOZZLE, a ROLLING GARDEN CART/SEAT and a KNEELER. A WATERING CAN has a long spout, enabling you to water your flowers and shrubs from a short range away while still standing. They do tend to feel quite heavy - water weighs 8-1/3 lbs. per gallon - so search for a watering can that is made of lighter weight products, such as aluminum or a durable plastic, that is well built. A great quality HOSE PIPE is necessary for your garden and your sanity, unless you are particularly fond of lugging that heavy watering can around to water your lawn. Do not pinch pennies on a pipe; purchase the best quality tube you can discover so you will not be spending your weekends giving first help to all those holes and leakages that seem to reveal themselves the minute you look away. A hose made of rubber ought to be your best option. Some are even strengthened from the inside with a product suggested to flex with the pipe. You will require a NOZZLE of plastic or metal; metal will certainly last longer and annoy you less. A PIPE REEL will make your life a lot easier. How many times have you tripped over a tube that has been carelessly dropped in serpentine tangles all over the driveway? Shop a hose pipe that is of adequate length to reach from the spigot to the point furthest away on your property where you might need water.
Last, but definitely not least, are the GARDENING STOOL and the KNEELER. These 2 devices are developed for those of bee honey us who are not quite as mobile as we when were. The GARDENING STOOL helps remove back and knee discomfort by supplying a surface area upon which to sit while doing gardening chores that usually require standing in one place and/or bending. The stool normally is equipped with wheels and a storage space for your tools, and even has a holder for your water bottle. There is another kind of gardening stool looking like a round hassock but it is installed on a spring system that permits the gardener to sit and reach in all instructions without needing to get up to rearrange the stool. Sadly, this second kind of stool tends to be really costly.
The KNEELER, a padded surface area in the shape of a rigid swing seat, is developed to take the ground's firmness away from your poor hurting knees. A variation of the kneeler is as explained above but with grab bars on either side of the cushion to facilitate standing up when you have actually completed working in that part of your garden. Both designs relieve pressure on the knees, especially helpful for arthritics.
Probably one of the most reliable products, ergonomically speaking, is the ADD-ON HANDLE. It structurally customizes conventionally designed garden tools in a way that offers 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 utilize is also offered. Both the handle and the cuff are removable and can be utilized on the tools pointed out above. There are also long reach farmers for those who need to work from a seated position, particularly wheelchair users.
A couple of final thoughts:
You should treat your body as a shrine. Flexing incorrectly is the same as taking a sledge hammer to your shrine. Both are damaging.
It is easy to make a fast relocation without believing. I can not count the number of times my physician has fussed at me for simply that factor.
When RAKING or HOEING, try to keep the tools close to your body. Keep your back straight. Utilize your arms and NEVER twist your trunk (my medical professional's very bone of contention - I still feel guilty when he captures me). If you are brief, utilize long-handled tools in scale with your height. The exact same is true for high people.
Do not consider bending from the waist. This is where the KNEELER or the KNEELER WITH GRAB BARS come in mighty useful. When WEEDING, use long-handled tools to alleviate the strain on your back, legs, and knees. Forget about flexing over to TROWEL; think about crouching or resting on the ground.
When SHOVELING or DIGGING, action on the top of the blade as you vertically place the head of the shovel in the ground. Raise just little loads, flexing at the knees. Never ever involve your back when lifting. Once again, prevent twisting your trunk. This will become your mantra. Use as little of a shovel as possible to effectively complete your job. Once again, match your shovel to your body size.
Do not push your physical limitations when raising or bring. Bend from the knees, but not your back and keep the load near to your body. Prevent twisting or reaching. Sound familiar?
Get as close as possible to your work. Do not force your reach beyond your convenience zone. More importantly, do not stretch beyond your stable footing! On a personal note, stretching can be negative to your health if you have not arranged your footing to your finest benefit. To preface this cautionary tale, due to having Degenerative Disc Illness for several years, my chief mode of transportation is my dependable wheelchair. I likewise wear bilateral leg braces which provide me some assistance when standing. A couple of summertimes ago, I thought it would be great to rob my rose garden to dress up the dining-room table as we were anticipating supper guests that night. Nobody else was at house. Like a fool, I headed out to my increased garden, equipped with my favorite pruning shears, believing I would like to cut a minimum of a dozen stunning roses (we have more than 50 bushes). I was using rather baggy shorts that rippled in the breeze. Both my legs were ensconced in their braces. Detecting a particularly wonderful rose, I reached forward toward the bush. I thought my feet were securely planted atop the redwood chips surrounding the bushes. Boy, was I wrong! As I grabbed the stem to be clipped, each foot went in an opposite instructions, propelling me toward all those thousands of deadly thorns. With extreme accuracy, I was thrust straight onto the bush. Correction. I was impaled upon the rose bush, sent to prison by those enormous 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. Talk about embarrassment, not to mention the blood exuding out from the zillion thorn holes on my body. I was the photo of sophistication, not. I thanked them for their assistance and red-facedly slunk back into the house. I can truthfully say that from that point on, I stop to consider all options prior to even approaching anything in my garden. I had actually absolutely learned my lesson and hope this tale will advise you to prepare ahead whenever your body mechanics are involved.