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Avoid the aches and pains of gardening
Oh, how my back aches! Like most over-enthusiastic gardeners, I've overdone it on digging, weeding and planting during the fine days we've had in the last week. And I'm paying for it.
I know that they say an hour's hard graft in the garden is equivalent to a good session in the gym, but it can also put intense stress on the body.
You can burn 290 calories an hour weeding or 325 calories digging, but if you don't warm up properly and then over-exert yourself in spring after months of doing nothing in the garden, you're asking for trouble, says Jacqueline Knox, a Pilates expert and physiotherapist to the British rowing squad.
However she says there are ways to garden which can alleviate aches and pains. Knox has now teamed up with garden designer Bunny Guinness to write Garden Your Way To Health And Fitness, a book offering exercise plans and injury prevention in the garden.
One in 20 of Knox's clients at her clinic in Tallington, Lincolnshire, is seeking help for a gardening injury.
"I have found that making very small changes to their gardening technique and showing them how to do some therapeutic, strengthening exercise before gardening and some stretching afterwards, causes many of their aches and pains to melt away," she says.
She advocates Pilates-based movements and body balancing, keeping your spine in a neutral position (neither slouching nor arching) rather than slumped forward.
There are safe ways to carry out everyday tasks like pushing wheelbarrows, lifting heavy pots and picking low-lying fruit, she says, along with ways to alleviate backache, tennis elbow and other common gardening ailments.
When lifting heavy objects like potted plants, keep your back in a neutral position and take away the strain by bending your knees to go down for the object and then use your legs and abdominal muscles to lift it. Lift the pot with both hands, with one foot on the ground for stability, while the heel of the other foot can come off the ground as you rise to a standing position. If you have a bad back or problems with your knees or hips, get someone else to lift the object.
To prevent tennis elbow, choose a tool with a hand grip the right size for you, which helps to avoid gripping too hard and overclenching while carrying out repetitive movements.
When digging, rest or carry out a different activity every 15 minutes to lessen your vulnerability to strain.
Hand-weeding can be done by squatting, bending your knees and keeping your back in its neutral position. Avoid neck strain by keeping your shoulder blades down and in and using your shoulder blade muscles to weed.
Another option is to weed by kneeling on your hands and knees. Make sure you have something like a pad to kneel on and try to keep your back in its neutral position. Keep your shoulder blades down and in towards the middle of your back, with your elbows softly bent.
If you pick up watering cans from the ground, bend your knees and keep your back straight. Stand up straight, pulling your lower stomach upwards and inwards, relax your shoulders, keeping your shoulder blades pressed down into your back to minimise strain on your shoulders and neck. As you walk, keep your posture upright, keeping your stomach drawn up and in. That way, the weight will be taken on by your abdominal muscles and shoulder blades.
When weeding, deadheading or doing any other job which involves bending, avoid bending from the waist.
"Whenever you bend over in the garden, aim to keep your back as straight as possible while bending your knees," she advises.
When doing overhead work such as hedge-trimming, watering hanging baskets or pruning high trees, your neck becomes vulnerable to strain. In an ideal position the neck shouldn't be too far forward (with the chin sticking out), or too far back (hunched into the shoulders).
Using a small stepladder and long-handled loppers reduces the need to tilt your head back while pruning trees and tall shrubs.
Post-gardening stretches should also lessen stiffness after a day's work and are essential if you've been doing something involving leaning over or kneeling for long periods, such as weeding, she says.
:: Garden Your Way To Health And Fitness, by Bunny Guinness and Jacqueline Knox, is published by Timber Press, priced 14.99.
BEST OF THE BUNCH - Dwarf phlox
They are among my favourite rockery plants, their flat heads of brightly coloured blooms providing a wealth of colour in rockeries, tumbling over walls and providing masses of colour in alpine planters. There are many different types of phlox, including erect, evergreen and herbaceous perennials, but among the best are the spring-flowering dwarf varieties such as Phlox subulata, mainly in shades of blue, pink and red. Good choices include P. subulata 'Lilacina', a dense, mat-forming, evergreen perennial which produces soft lilac flowers, and P. 'Kelly's Eye', another evergreen, mounding perennial producing pretty pink flowers with a deeper pink centre in late spring to early summer. Rock garden types of phlox need well drained soil in full sun. Plant cuttings in a cold frame in summer.
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT... Aubergines
Yes, they are tender veg, but if you want a taste of the Mediterranean in summer, to make delicious ratatouille or moussaka, you can still have a go. They have much the same needs as tomatoes and peppers and are best grown in a sunny spot, ideally in a greenhouse or polytunnel, in free-draining soil to which plenty of compost has been added.
Seeds sown in spring in 4in (10cm) pots, two or three seeds to a pot (heated propagators should help germination), can be planted out in May and June 60cm (24in) apart when the first flowers form and are best under a polytunnel to protect them from flea beetle, thrips and aphids.
Pinch out the first fruit to form on large-fruited varieties and thin out subsequent fruit to leave three to five per plant. Small-fruited varieties can be left unthinned. Water and feed regularly with a high potash liquid feed. Fruits can be harvested after they've reached half their mature size because then they will be more tender and less prone to bitterness.
THREE WAYS TO... Choose the right container
1. Avoid containers with small, narrow rims, which are going to limit the amount you can plant.
2. If you want to cut down on watering in the summer, choose the biggest container you can find (provided you are going to be able to move it if you need to), as the more compost you can put in, the longer it will take to dry out if you forget to water occasionally.
3. Don't be misled by 'frost-proof' terracotta. It may be a better grade that is less likely to crack but it isn't indestructible, as I've often found to my cost. You'd be wise to cover your terracotta containers with bubble wrap in winter or move them into a sheltered spot near the house if frost is predicted.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
:: During the day remove cloches from strawberries to allow access by pollinating insects.
:: Continue to sow maincrop varieties of beetroot, kohl rabi, French beans, onion, spinach, carrots, cabbage and summer cauliflower.
:: Earth up potatoes to protect them against frost.
:: Plant out sweet peas.
:: Plant evergreens and shift large plant if necessary.
:: Plant crocosmia, galtonia, gladioli and nerine.
:: Prune deciduous shrubs that flower later in the year on the current season's growth.
:: Net blackcurrants against birds.
:: Pinch out sideshoots of greenhouse tomatoes regularly.
:: Start pruning trained fruit tree forms (such as espaliers, fans and cordons), to encourage fruit bud formation.
:: Keep an eye out for early aphid attack, and deal with this appropriately, by squashing small colonies.
:: Deadhead pansies, primulas and other spring bedding plants. Pansies will carry on in the spring and even to early summer, if attended to frequently.
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Weather for Bedford
Monday 13 February 2012
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