Gardening is one of the fastest growing pastimes in the U.S., as well as one of the healthiest, offering great stress relief and physical activity. But it can also be hard on the knees and back, as any dirt jockey can tell you. On June 16, 2004, Allan A. Swenson, author of The Everything Gardening Book, shared his tips for maximizing the pleasure and minimizing the pain of gardening, as well as advice for growing healthy, chemical-free gardens.
If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.
MODERATOR: Welcome to WebMD Live, Allan.
SWENSON: Thank you. I'm just looking out at the beautiful gardens. I just rototilled them yesterday and have already planted four beds, 150 feet long by 6 feet wide, then will be doing more this week, putting in two beds the same length with shasta daisies and rudbeckie. I'm planning on putting in perennial gardens for the beauty and one of my friends likes to pick and sells them in his travels. This year we plan to seed many more different perennials, both for the beauty of flowers, shasta daisies, rudbeckia, which is the old black-eyed Susans as most people know them, and also strawflower. That will let us grow beautiful flowers for drying and then use at our different church fairs and local bazaars.
MODERATOR: You are gardening in Maine, right? What vegetables are you growing this season?
SWENSON: It was so wet and cold, a very unusual winter, so we're getting a late start. Some neighbors who have hotbeds and cold frames got a good big jump. So they have started plants looking good in their gardens already. Others, of course, start seeds of sensitive plants, like tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, and squash, indoors in jiffy pots or peat moss trays so they can have started plants that will work well as soon as they get them outdoors after the last spring frost time is over. That is true in all areas of where you have late spring frost dangers up to Memorial Day, which is much of northern United States.
MODERATOR: I'm in Oregon and have been eating peas, spinach, raspberries, and strawberries. I know folks in the southern U.S. who are eating tomatoes already!
SWENSON: Oh my, isn't that nice. Actually we are fudging a little bit. A friend produces his tomatoes in his greenhouse and we get two big pots with tomatoes already started. Then when friends come to visit we can go and proudly pick tomatoes in mid-June right in these containers.
MEMBER QUESTION: Which is easier on the back -- tools with long handles or tools with short handles that make you get on your hands and knees but at least you're not hunching over?
SWENSON: I use both. In fact, when I'm doing my hoeing, which I like to do, I have a tool with funny little spiked wheels that you just push back and forth and that does the weeding and cultivating. In large areas, I will use long-handled hoes or cultivators. But to do the job right, I put on my kneepads and like to crawl along in the garden with weeders and hand cultivators and really get down to the good earth. That saves my back and it's fun crawling along your garden rows.
There is another advantage you get to see any insect damage or problems coming up. I learned that in Emmaus, Penn., at the Rodale garden area. I was a friend of Bob Rodale himself. In fact I wrote one book for Rodale called My Own Herb Garden .
What people should understand about natural or organic gardening is it is a natural thing. Healthy plants can fight off disease and insect problems. So it pays to fertilize well and also crawl around and hand pick off bugs when they first arrive.
MEMBER QUESTION: What do you recommend to protect knees -- kneeling pads or those kneepads that you wear?
SWENSON: I bought kneepads that are very comfortable, actually at Wal-Mart, and they go on with Velcro straps. I also use an old foam pillow, when I'm going to be crawling around for any length of time.
MEMBER QUESTION: What if you have two replacement knees and can't crawl around very easily. Is there any kind of moving low chair?
SWENSON: Yes. I have friends who have had knee replacements. There are several rolling toolboxes for gardens; you can sit on them and roll along and weed by hand or with short-handled tools. My wife has one and likes it, because she can then just sit and with her heels push along and weed and plant and prune easily sitting down. I have seen several different types of these garden carts at major chain stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot and Sears, for example.
WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.
Print This Page
Email a Friend
