Gardening with back ache or wheelchair gardening

Hi folks,
Its a wet afternoon here and so i thought i'd have a look at some of the older threads and i came across this one ref back ache and infact other's who want to garden but are having trouble getting down to it (the garden)

I think ive a few answers that are well worth thinking about here,
(1) Bending and even standing back ache.

in this wet/damp and cold time of the year the slightest hint of cold air we all know can & will have you paying the price later in the day or evening for not keeping the cold/damp away from the back,

I myself after a very fit younger life have to really think "back ache" before i go for any walk or gardening and what works for me should work for you

"it wont do you any harm to just try these few things",

(a) thermal vest or why not the full long john's (laugh if you want) but they make a hell of a difference, (b) cover your neck, a scarf will make again one hell of a difference, and your selection of socks, thermal are very good even when wearing boots or wellies, keep the cold out.

Now this clothing will really help when doing the brushing up of leaves or tending pots, but is the brush handle long enough for your body size?
If your bending over a little to much your going to put strain on your already stiff back, so have a look at what your using and see if a longer handle wouldn't work better for you, (the makers of handles for all tools think we are all one size but you can get longer ones)

Wheelchair gardeners,
For those who have not used such a device as a wheelchair for very long and think their gardening days are over!!!

"Think Again"
No way are these days over and you can do and have some really smashing displays of veg or flowers even fruit orchard from a chair,

Lets have a think about the raised beds, what are they & how do they work!

Its a basic frame made up of pieces of wood (planks) made for your needs ie just high enough so you can reach across to the middle of the frame from one side & by going around to the opposit side once again you can reach the centre of the frame from here.
Its your garden and the space between each raised bed is up to you, just make sure if you have more than one raised bed you have space to get between all of them in comfort?

The length of these frames can be any size you feel happy with, the norm (if you can say norm) is approx 12 feet long 6 feet wide 2 feet deep,
this you can manage from a chair in comfort and without strain,
you want to be able to reach from your sitting possition every inch of the raised bed.

Just think you'll have no need to not be able to garen, you can grow veg/salad
/flowers and if you plant mini apple/pears etc in the normal garden area you can still look after fruit, the garden centre will have extending poles with grips for harvesting fruit and again all this can be done "with effort" from a chair.

For those who have back ache and are better sitting down to do pots etc again all the above "raised bed gardening" can be the answer to your prayers when it comes to having a garden you can manage without strain,

The good thing about raised bed gardening even for the fit & able gardener is that these beds are easy on the eye to manage for keeping weed free and tidy.

IE if you have a large area to keep weeded etc and you cant finish to clear the plot and as your coming to the end of the day you look at all those weeds that are left and it gives you that lost feeling,
if the next day you cant weed for what ever reason!!!! when you do re-start to weed your no sooner finished and the weeds start growing again,

With a raised bed both the eye contact and size of the area are smaller and 9 out of 10 times the work will be completed in one day,
Its when you come to the end of the day that you look at what you've completed and feel good "eye & mind contact" and your back isn't killing you from bending over for hours?
And the raised beds can have wire netting covers over them to keep unwanteds off or you can turn the raised beds into mini poly tunnels by using hard plastic cold water tubes bent across the frame "side to side" and polythene covering spread over these tubes, (great for adding heat to the toms etc etc ) and just a case of rolling back to water the plant,

Who said back ache or wheel chair gardening is dead!

 

well said moonraker

 

Thank you; im pleased you agree.

(In the next world i want to be a guide dog for the blind)

 

Nice information .

 

I use a back support the best I have found is from physioroom really makes a difference, I also use a hinged knee brace with good results.

Or I wait for a good day