Re:OT:Disabled Gardners
- Subject: Re:OT:Disabled Gardners
- From: C* M* M*
- Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 10:56:38 -0600
Here are some things which should work for all gardeners--disabled or not--
Before going out to work in the garden--make some soap suds with a strong
soap--Mom always used Fels Naptha--but do not know if it is still
around--and lather cover your lower arms and hands--sorta scrape your nails
over the bar of soap so that some soap goes under the nails--
this is very good if you have poison oak in your area--when you go back into
the house--rinse your arms and hands off--and the dirt will come out from
under your nails very easily--
OR--use 'Bag Balm'--used while milking a cow--one of the best to rub on your
hands and nails before going out to weed or dig in dirt--
Have you ever tried a 'Wing Weeder'? regular length handle and the head
comes in 2 sizes--a V shaped head--smaller one is about 4" each side, larger
one is about 6" each side--sit on a little green seat--made for
gardeners--with wheels--and you can easily push yourself
along--backwards--and get the weeds with the Wing Weeder--it is amazing how
fast you can learn to use the 'wing'--and you can get in close to the
rhizomes with it--
if you cannot tighten your hand enough to hold a handle of a garden
tool--buy a pack of very large hair rollers--the foam kind--push the roller
over the handle--and then you can hold the handle over the foam area--(also
do the same with a pen or pencil--if you cannot hold a regular pen)
raise the beds about a foot--you will be surprised how much easier it is to
weed/transplant/work the soil-with the beds a little higher.
I think a book on gardening for the disabled might be a good idea--our
Dahlia club helps persons at a school for the disabled--every year--they
plant Dahlias in pots--set the pots up about a foot--and having the plants
in pots makes it easier for them to take care of--don't know how that would
work with Iris though--
having problems with your hand/arm after a Mastectomy is not as common as it
used to be--but sometimes there are major problems after a Mastectomy--I
lost about 20% of the strength in my arm--due to removal of
nerves/muscle/lymph nodes--and whatever else they took out--and even though
I keep trying to strengthen my arm--it never seems to get much better--
thank heaven's I had learned to do many things with my left hand when I was
young--so do not have to rely on my weaker arm--persons who have no problems
with their arms--do not realize the problems some of us have--
keep collecting ideas--sounds great!!!
Carryl in western Montana--zone 3/4 I finally have many MDB and SDB in
bloom--this year several of the MDB's are showing 4 standards and 4
falls--really cute!!!
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