Not being facetious...

Here is my best all around garden tool

He has those clothes on for EVERYTHING...
He runs to Home Depot middle of a chore...and the looks he receives....
I bet those pants have every color we have painted the last 30 years.
And his legs, wrists, neck ...duct taped. If he gets stung..we go to the ER.

He told me he was loading cement bags yesterday and a woman was coming out of Lowes and she looked like she was in her early 70's -- she asked him if HE needed her to help him. 😝

But, I will say he keeps going like the EverReady bunny and truly is a huge assist in the garden when my strength falters or a muscle cramps.

I have several garden tools that as a woman make gardening easier for me as I don't have as much strength as a man. They are ratcheting pruners both the hand held and the large size with extendable handles to give you extra reach without getting on a ladder. The ratcheting take less hand strength allowing you to work longer without hand, back or neck strain. I also have a D-handle spear head shovel that makes digging much easier for a woman. One other item I have is a metal frame kneeling bench for the garden it has handles to help you get up. I have used this a lot after a back injury so I could garden. I am a senior gardener not really physically challenged other than age and like tools that make it easier for me to garden using less physical exertion.

Good post, Betty. I'm not disabled either, except as a result of age! Anything to make gardening easier is welcomed. I have to do projects much slower than I used to. Little by little things get done.

Corker this aging deal .. I used to be able to sit cross legged on the patio or grass and jump up and go and get a tool .. Things have changed since being diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis ...painful deal that
But,you do what can with what you have, and hope it doesn't lay ya flat out the day after

Funny thing is, neither Shovelling nor grass cutting bother me ..

~M~

Now I fit right in. I can't accomplish a doggone thing.

One thing I forgot to add is that I got my kneeler from Lee Valley and also got the tool pouch to hang on one of the handles so my tools are right there and ready to use. I actually wore out one tool pouch after years of use and had to replace it the past year.

Karen, my husband is disabled so he can't help me with much as he use to, so I have been using tools to help make things doable.

I really like Worx tools and have their cordless leaf blower this past summer I saw they had an extension kit to make it into a gutter blower. I got it so now I can clean the gutters while standing on the ground. I also have their cordless weed trimmer which works good in our yard eliminates me having to start a push mower besides using the lawn tractor. This year I already ordered their yard cart which I will be able to use in a variety of ways for lifting pots, moving items plus mine also has a seat which I can sit on while pruning and be able to toss the pruning right in the cart.

drdawg said:Now I fit right in. I can't accomplish a doggone thing.

That can't really be true, Ken. You must be doing things right or you wouldn't have greenhouses and a solarium full of lovely plants.

Back surgery thirteen days ago changed all that. I am now basically worthless.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten. Sorry, Ken, but hopefully this is just temporary until you're fully healed up, right? I've had surgeries and the recovery is hard because you have so many things you want to do, and can't do them. I remember feeling worthless, and it is very frustrating. Hang in there.

Nothing else to do but wait it out and accomplish what little my wife let's me get away with.

@drdawg

I know its hard right now especia;lly. I've had two back surgeries and remember well those first days. Hang in there during this tough recuperation period: your body's been insulted and it's sulking!! :lol:

Every day will bring at least one thing you can do (more): walk 5 more minutes, lift your foot up off the ground. . believe it or not, soon you'll be back better than you were before the surgery! The going will be maddening slow, but you'll get there!

I appreciate the welcome.
I’m glad you found us. Beth. I wasn’t sure which forum to find you on here.
Lovemyhouse!! Yeah, I move slow, but I get where I need to go eventually. Sorry we lost touch. The last year or two has been even crazier than usual. I will go lurk on your thread too. I may even work up the energy to write something despite being a 3-toed sloth” as Nadi put it. Even we sloths move faster on warm days and today was a beaut. Short sleeves and blue skies.
Those gorgeous wings must give flutterbys some kind of divine exemption from bug status. If that many of any other kind of insect had been crawling on them, the ladies would have been pitching fits instead of laughing.
I always take Sundays off and I spent most of today plant shopping. I went out with a few flats of violas and a new redbud tree in mind. Plants that are currently in bloom that keep the honeybees away from the wild yellow Jessamine (Gelsimium semperverins). Came home with a new fig variety instead. Staying on track at the nursery isn’t one of my best things. I’ll find those violas tomorrow.
Stopped by to see what was going on at the Dothan Botanical Garden since it is so close to the nursery I went to. Came home from there with a few new raised planter ideas and craving a new camellia addition. Our plan was to limit ourselves to tea camellias, but I might be able to sell the others on ‘White Empress”. Kay will be an easy sale. This camellia has a vaguely rose-like scent to my nose. There were bees feeding on the blooms. That will be a sales point for the others. .
Photos: Raised bed #1 under construction. This is an inexpensive design I had not thought of.
Raised bed #2 using landscaping timbers.
“White Empress’ camellia. There were a few other camellias in bloom, but the Empress was a stand-out.
(Jim)

drdawg said: Nothing else to do but wait it out and accomplish what little my wife let's me get away with.

Ken ... you can think about gardening. You need to heal before you can do anything else.

drdawg said: Nothing else to do but wait it out and accomplish what little my wife let's me get away with.

It's a good thing you have your wife watching you, Ken. Otherwise you'd probably end up hurting your recovery. I know I would!

Ken, just think of this as the same as my "winter" -- can't do any real gardening, but you can still plan... once you heal up, you'll be ready to go again! And you can do the planning while relaxing in your new solarium... (do you have a little bell to ring so your wife will be at your beck and call? )

Good one, Sandy ...

Thank you all for the encouragement. My wife did the grocery shopping yesterday (something I almost always do). I wish I had thought about a bell and wrote it on the list. She would have had a laugh. She keeps a close watch on me and has been a wonderful nurse.

About that bell idea. . . when I was taking care of my ailing grandmother, I bought her a small silver bell so she could call me easier (her bedroom was upstairs and the kitchen & living room etc downstairs)

After she re covered, one of the first things I did was. . . THROW THAT &@^# BELL AWAY!!!

Please, folks, if you like your caregiver, DON'T get a bell!

We did the same with my father during his last months. Someone needed to be with him 24/7 and my step-mother was simply not up to the task but would not allow a "stranger" to do the care-giving. That meant my brother and I did the bulk of his care-giving. I wasn't so much of a big deal with my brother, since he lived only 15 minutes away. My round-trip was 250 miles and we alternated weeks staying with Dad. My wife was left in Starkville during my "week" and it was a real hardship on us both. I never resented the bell. It sometimes was a help but often was forgotten as Dad slept more and more. I don't know what became of the bell.

My grandmother slept less and less. . . .so got bored (even tho I bought & had installed a cable TV just for her bedroom) . . . .and I was just a bell-ring away!

At first, the bell was a good thing for both of us. . . . when she felt better but was still confined to bed for another week or so, it was hard on us both.