Landcare Agony Uncle – Trying to minimise the agony

Dear Agony Uncle,

Yep, agony is the right word.  I’m getting old, the joints don’t move as well as they once did.  I love gardening and Landcare work but can’t move as much as I used to.  Are there any ways I can still keep looking after my yard and doing a bit to help out?

From Dinosaur in Dudley

Dear DiD,

Be welcome here my fellow dinosaur and step into the tarpit with me so we can warm our bones and laugh at these lemurs running about the forest floor, they’ll never become anything of note.

It’s true, as we age there’s things we can’t (or shouldn’t), do as well as we used to, but with the cunning and treachery we have learnt over the eons we can find ways we can still do a lot of what we love.  Over the years I’ve picked up plenty of injuries (ankles, knees, wrist, shoulder, neck) which have made me rethink how I do some things.

In Landcare one of the unwritten* philosophies is that we have to be willing to modify the job to suit the person (*unwritten till now).  At one of our nurseries we have a sight impaired volunteer who used to love potting up but now fills the pots for us instead.  We also have a few bar stools to place around our potting up bench so people can sit if they want.

There’s a lot of tools and ideas out there to help those of less than full mobility to get out and do something constructive.  Firstly you need to be comfortable so before we start looking at the tools we’ll look at a bit of clothing.

A good pair of gloves can provide extra grip, comfort and protection, there’s a huge range available these days. Leather or cotton gloves are good for just general around the yard work, rubberised gloves for chemical mixing or dealing with biohazards (or nitrile gloves under cotton and wash the cotton afterwards), padded palms when using a mower, fingerless where you need a little extra grip but need some manual dexterity. Brickies gloves are quite good though you lose a little dexterity. Auto spares and big hardware shops have a good range of gloves for all sorts of purposes.

 Some of the glove collection, different gloves for different jobs and thin woollen gloves are great as undergloves in winter (ask me how I know!), and yes, both the welding gloves are right handed (if you know, you know).

I have found knee guards to make life at ground level a bit easier, though you want to check they are a good fit and don’t move too much (or you can sew them on to your favourite gardening pants). I have a dodgy knee (among plenty of other “well worn” bits) so will often have a neoprene knee support for a little extra support.

Having dislocated my foot in a motorcycle accident many years ago and still having only about 90% movement in it (which is fun doing veg surveys on rough mountainsides), I am fussy about footwear, so lace up mid-high ankle bushwalking boots give me great support (my thoughts on elastic sided boots aren’t worth repeating).

Knee guards and neoprene knee support (latter available at sports shops).

Quality hand tools which are sharp and maintained are a lot easier to use than the $5 bargain bin ones you find at the front door. I love my Bahco secateurs (which happily come in left handed as well), they’re comfy, ergonomic and I can use them for a long time without fatigue, and they come in a variety of sizes. Felco and Fiskars make good secateurs as well (and no, these comments are not being sponsored). There’s also some good ratchet mechanism secateurs which close up with a few squeezes of the handles.

There’s also a lot of hand tools for people with arthritis.

Good hand tools are well worth it, the Bahco’s on the left do need a clean (rainy day job, looks like I could be waiting a while – edit this was written a week ago, lovely rainy day now).

Long handled rubbish grabbers, I had some “find their way” into my tool collection about 20 years ago and have proved fantastic for picking up rubbish and other things off the ground, there’s quite a few on the market, some aren’t that great so try a few before you buy.

Mr Grabby has performed admirably over the past 20 or so years.

Weed wands are great for dabbing herbicide straight onto a weed with no need to bend over, because it’s so easy and quick follow up will be similarly easy and quick.

Wanda the Weed Wand, good for dabbing a bit of herbicide without the need to bend over and no risk of overspray.

Long handled hoes, a small chipping hoe with a long handle is great for weed chipping and relatively light to carry around.

Power tools.  There are some great, lightweight, battery-power tools available now that a lot of people are using around the yard, on Landcare sites and even professionals are using them. The big advantages are less maintenance, easier starting and use and greatly reduced noise over petrol-powered appliances.

Powered secateurs.  Great for doing lots of pruning and minimising hand strain.

Electric chainsaws.  There’s all sorts of different sizes from small, single-hand operated to ones matching the 2 stroke powered saws.

‘Leccy chainsaws are awesome, I’ve had this one around 4 years now with no dramas.  This one is great for what I need to do. Chainsaws are available in smaller, lighter single battery or bigger 60 Volt versions. If you’re buying one, go for a known brand, check the weight and balance and the chain tensioning mechanism.  A specialist power tool retailer will have a good range to choose from.

Electric pole pruners, might be a bit heavier but good in rough areas that need attention.

Obviously, use all power tools to the manufacturer’s directions and follow safe working procedures.

There’s a lot of tools that can be modified with longer or thicker handles or can be cut down to size.  A friend with a welder (or even better some blacksmithing gear) could probably make something for you.

Around our nursery, potting up benches are 1m high, so are tall enough to work at without major back strain.  Most of our plants are on benches 80cm high for easy handling of plants. When working at the bench by myself I set things up so I have to transfer my weight from foot to foot to keep fatigue at bay for a while.

Raised gardens are great or even just big pots, and if they’re still too low put them up on a couple of bricks.

A quick Google search will come up with many more tools and ideas.

If things are still a bit difficult and you still want to help out, there’s always something to do, like co-ordinating the morning tea (extra points for freshly cooked scones) or working on stalls on field days to promote your group.  If you’re reasonably computer literate then there’s social media, helping with newsletters and helping on the committee.

Let your group coordinator know and they’ll find something for you (or check with any of the Hunter Region Landcare Network staff and we’ll think of something) as we don’t want anyone getting injured.  While we dinosaurs may have been around for millions of years, it does take us a while to recover and we want to be around for a few million more years.

Hmm, what’s that bright light in the sky?

Remember, Landcare is for Everyone.

Sincerely
(not in too much) Agony Uncle.

P.S. If you’ve got ideas, techniques or tools to make things easier drop us a line we’d be happy to share them.