April 12 column: Gardening comfort

Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Working smart keeps body happy. The primary focus is on gardening comfort. It is about the things we can do to make gardening easier and more comfortable for our bodies. I’m talking about stretching beforehand, not doing repetitive motions for long periods of time and so on. After all, gardening should be enjoyable, right?

In the column, I mention how useful kneeler/benches are (see top photo). When the handles are pointing up, it’s used as a kneeler and if you flip it around so the handles point down, it becomes a bench. While I don’t use the bench feature on mine nearly as much as I do the kneeler function, it does come in handy for tasks that take a while. For me, that includes chores like deadheading prolific bloomers like Shasta daisies or picking blueberries.

For me, the most important features of these kneelers are the handles that you use to slowly lower yourself down onto the kneeler or push yourself back up. I don’t know about you, but it’s the constant getting up and down that wears me out during a day of gardening, and really makes my hips ache. Again, to enjoy being in our gardens, it’s all about gardening comfort, right?

However, I’ve recently learned about a new type of kneeler (left) and wanted to tell you about it. Please refer to my review of it on this blog. I think you’ll find it very interesting!