Glory in the Garden

By Kathryn Moorhouse

In the spring of 1988, I bought a little house on a small city lot and began making plans to create a garden where there wasn’t one. First, the summer was spent renovating the house and ignoring the yard. Plans for my beautiful new garden went on only in my mind. Then, in September, a serious motor vehicle accident resulted in my no longer being able to use my right arm.

Ultimately, I would spend seven years in physiotherapy before accepting that the damage done was permanent and irreparable. At that time, however, the attitude was "wait and see."

For someone who had grown up in a family of gardeners, this represented a personal disaster. Two years after my accident, I was still unable to see myself gardening at all. Ever.

This changed gradually. The garden I now have started with one miniature rosebush bought at a department store on an impulse. At the time, I decided I would try digging one hole for the bush. I figured if I couldn’t manage this, someone else would help me finish the job and maybe I wouldn’t be able to garden again after all. But I wasn’t going to give up without trying.

Today, I have an extensive perennial collection as well as shrubs and vines numbering over a hundred varieties. The garden never looks picture perfect, but then most gardens don’t - at least not to their owners.

I have found a number of ways to make my hobby easier and more manageable with the use of one arm. Planning the landscape so it is lower maintenance is one of the best places to start. Grouping plants with like needs together can save a lot of trouble. If you want to grow rhododendrons, for example, you can try placing them near each other. Their requirements include high acidity and shade, especially from winter sun. If they are in a grouping, you will save steps, as well as eliminate the risk of forgetting one or two that are not nearby, when fertilizing, for example.

Those of us who have spent days weeding after returning from vacations realize the benefit of mulch or landscaping cloth, held down by a decorative covering of some mulch material. This helps to conserve moisture in hot weather as well as preventing weed growth. With so many cities coping with watering bans during summer, this is of great benefit to the garden.

Anyone who has struggled with long, unruly garden hoses knows how awkward watering can be. In each area of my garden, I have weeping hoses snaked around and between the plants. In addition, I have quick-connect couplings, now widely available at most garden centres, on the ends of all hoses. These eliminate the need for screwing the ends - they just click together. My hoses stay in place and I don’t have to flag somebody down to help me water a selected area of my garden.

At garden centres and in catalogues these days we are seeing more tools for sale that are labelled as "ergonomic" - they are designed to make jobs easier and more comfortable. Some of these have insulated handles, which doesn’t seem too important until you are planting bulbs at the end of October when snow is threatening. My aluminium hand tools are wonderful to use unless it is cold out. Although I usually start out with gloves on, I invariably "lose" them somewhere along the way, so insulated tool handles are really great.

Many handles now come with a bend in them to make the work less taxing for your back as well. (I have seen this design on snow shovels. Of course, someone else does that particular job at my house.)

I have also purchased tools with long wooden handles and had the handles cut down to suit my needs. If you are using only one hand, a full-length handle is out of balance and gets in the way. When you are shopping for tools, keep in mind that they can often be modified to suit your own abilities. It is also good to remember your weight and size limitations. An oversized shovel may seem like a great idea in the store, but if you are finding it on the heavy side when empty, consider what it will weigh when loaded with soil. Buy the tool that you can easily handle.

Even the most able-bodied among us should protect themselves from injury. Athletes know that you must warm up your muscles before participating in sporting events. Gardening is sometimes hard physical work, and your body needs to be prepared. A few stretches beforehand may help to prevent that pulled muscle. Those of us who have had one will tell you stretching is time well spent.

It is also helpful to vary your activities over the course of your day. For example, if you have what seems like miles of weeding along with some staking tasks to do, tackle these two jobs together, but alternately. If you spend a half hour weeding and then a few minutes getting your staking material together, then back to the weeds, then a half hour on the staking job, and so on, you will find both jobs easier, and your back and knees will thank you later.

A hobby should be enjoyable and satisfying. The sense of accomplishment you have at the end of the day should not be tempered by pain. You need not be excluded from activities because of your physical disabilities, as long as you can adjust. Although this may mean modifying your methods, the sense of accomplishment will be worth it.

(Kathryn Moorhouse is a freelance writer and avid gardener living in Brantford, Ontario.)