Gardening and Ergonomics

Who doesn’t love having a cool, comfortable, beautiful garden that will enable you to take advantage of our current weather?

To foster a good environment outside for your plants, you will have to place them in a sunny area, water them as needed, change the substratum if they are in a pot, or maybe plant them somewhere else in your garden. It’s important to take care of your plants and provide them with the nutrients, sunlight and water they need, but even more importantly, you must take care of yourself while doing your gardening activities.

Here are a few tips for you to think about!

Comfort

One of the things that we might not always focus on our posture when we’re working outside. We might kneel frequently or for long periods of time and we might not always be doing it in the most ergonomic-friendly way.

Here’s a video of this tool that we find comfortable to use while working the garden.

Leaning & Lifting

Now, let’s move on to another scenario, sometimes we lean and lift simultaneously, in order for you to have a better posture, you might try vertical gardening or even hanging pots.

Tools

Taking care of your gardening tools helps them last longer and makes them easier to use. Keep tools clean and dry to reduce sap buildup and rust. Sharpen cutting tools regularly to reduce the force necessary to prune your favorite rose bush. Don’t forget to tighten loose blades and oil moving parts. For more tool tips, check out this link: Garden Tool Care – Master Gardener Association of San Diego County (mastergardenersd.org)

Using the best tool for the job helps you garden with ease! For example, if you’re using hand pruners and you find you need two hands to make the cut, try longer handled loppers. The longer handles provide mechanical advantage and makes cutting easier and less fatiguing. When shoveling, choosing the best shovel for the task can make a huge difference. Check out this article for more information: How to Choose the Right Shovel (theprudentgarden.com)

A gardener can work in upright and neutral body postures with the right preparations. For example, flower and vegetable gardens can be planted in raised beds to reduce bending, kneeling, and squatting postures. Long handled tools also help keep the gardener in more neutral standing postures. Long handled weeding tools allow gardeners to remove weeds without kneeling and squatting. Check this tool out: Amazon.com : Fiskars 4-Claw Weeder 39 Inch, Black/Orange (339950-1001) : Hand Weeders : Garden & Outdoor