If you love working in your garden but have experienced a decrease in your physical capabilities, be it due to injury or simply the passing of the years, you might feel like getting out and gardening isn’t a possibility for you anymore. Luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case. If you’re willing to make some adjustments, you can still find the joy and fulfillment that comes from gardening.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips to help you continue working in the garden as you grow older.
Content Summary
Work In Raised Beds
If you’re unsure how you can best convert your current garden into a garden that will work for you as you age, you might want to stop by a community garden at any assisted living facility. Studying these gardens can give you a good starting point for how you might want to make changes within your own garden.
At these community gardens, you’re much more likely to see raised beds. With these raised beds, that can be raised to any height depending on how tall or mobile you are, you’ll have a much easier time getting to the soil and the plants that you’re tending. This can help ensure that gardening is easier on your body and that you don’t have to change elevation so dramatically in order to keep gardening.
Protect Your Hands And Joints In Garden
Gardening can be very physical work. So if your physical body isn’t what it once was, you’re going to need to find some ways to alter how you work in the garden. Finding the right tools for this can make this task much easier to manage.
Some of the tools you might want to start using as you get older could include using thicker foam mats to protect your knees if you’re kneeling on the ground. Additionally, you can also get hand tools that are meant for older folks or those who have dexeriety issues. Or, if you don’t want to replace the tools you already have, you can use foam or plastic tubing to help make the handles of your tools easier for you to grip.
Give Yourself A Place To Sit And Rest
Regardless of how many hours you’d love to spend out working in the garden, you’re likely going to need to take more breaks now than you had to when you were younger.
Knowing this, it’s wise to give yourself a few different places to sit within your garden so breaks can easily be accommodated. If you don’t already have a chair or a bench in your garden, consider getting one so that you can easily take a break from your work when you need one.
If you’re wanting to continue working in your garden despite your age or physical abilities, consider using the tips mentioned above to help make this possible for you.
