How to Garden With Less Pain

There are times when gardening can be painful, especially as you get older. If you are a senior, living with chronic pain or have an illness, follow these handy tips to make gardening a bit easier and with less pain.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Think perennials, shrubs, and trees instead of annuals. With a proper mulching program to stave off weeds, perennials are a plant-it-once-love-it-forever plant. This cuts back on replanting season after season. It also gives you a budget-friendly way to expand your garden. Also, native plants are easier to grow. This is both convenient for you, and better for your environment.

2. A centralized water bucket keeps you from lugging heavy containers to water your plants. Fill a larger container and carry smaller water pots to where your plants are. Or, if economically feasible, consider installing sprinklers. The ease of use will far outweigh the cost.

3. Mulch is not merely to bring a decorative touch to your property. It's meant to keep plants cool, to conserve its water, and to help provide a barrier to weeds. A small layer of newspaper under the mulch of choice will also provide an organic biodegradable landscaping fabric. Mulch will break down over the season and will help enrich the soil. It's a win-win necessity for any garden.

4. Say goodbye to your aching back. With just a few minor modifications, a garden can be an easier place to work. Think raised flower beds. Instead of bending over and planting in the ground, build raised beds level to a more comfortable height. Stand with your arms to your side, where the tips of your fingers hit is the perfect height for the top of the flower bed. Either enlist help in the building of the flower bed, or make sure to wait till later in the day when the sun is not so hot. ALWAYS have a water bottle and a proper straw hat.

5. Propagating perennials will yield a multitude of new plants each year. Go online or consult a gardening manual in your region to gain the proper times to take cuttings or do divisions of the plants you purchase. Consider a single day lily--one clump will easily provide you with over ten new plants each year.

6. Invest in the right tools for your garden. Buy oversized rakes and shovels with ergonomic padded handles. Investing in proper tools will be cheaper in the long run than purchasing tools that hinder your movements, break from cheapness, or fail to work without pain to you. Less strain for your hands will make you able to work longer pain-free. Also, a large-wheeled cart makes it much easier to move plants and mulch around.