Tag: garden

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Garden Longer with Less Muscle Strain and Fatigue

Image courtesy of MelindaMyers.com

That first full day in the garden may find you tired, sunburned, and stiff. Whether you are a young or young-at-heart gardener, include some strategies to help extend your enjoyment and reduce fatigue and muscle strain so you can keep gardening longer each day and for years to come.

No matter your age, it’s important to protect your joints when gardening. Use a kneeler pad or knee pads to protect your knees. Knee pads secured to your legs allow you to conveniently and comfortably protect your knees as you move from one garden bed to another.

If you need help kneeling, consider a garden kneeler with handles. The handles provide needed support when kneeling and standing up.  The ones that can be flipped over and used as a garden bench provide double the benefit. The seating position reduces bending and helps minimize the need to kneel.

Elevating your garden can also help. It is a great way to save space and eliminate the need to bend when planting, weeding, and harvesting. Elevated gardens and raised beds also offer a place to garden where planting space is limited or nonexistent. You’ll enjoy planting and harvesting with minimal weeding needed. Just be sure to monitor soil moisture and water as needed. Use self-watering containers, add irrigation or employ water-extending products to help lengthen the time between watering.

Further expand planting options by dressing up walls, fences, and more with vertical gardens. Monitor soil moisture in wall-mounted gardens regularly as many have limited soil that dries out quickly.

Clean and sharpen your tools, including pruning equipment, digging and weeding tools.   This allows you to make cuts more easily and dig into the soil and weed with less effort.

Consider investing in ergonomic tools designed for comfort to help prolong your time in the garden. Select lightweight tools with non-slip comfortable grip handles aligned to keep your wrist extension straight, which helps reduce muscle strain.

Use pruners with ratcheting, compound, or Dual Link action for more cutting power with less effort. You’ll be able to spend more time pruning with less muscle strain and fatigue. Consider investing in shovels with an anti-skid plate above the blade, providing more foot support for more digging power. Or retrofit an existing shovel with a commercially available anti-skid foot plate.

Don’t overlook the importance of protecting your hands as well when gardening. Quality gardening gloves provide support and protection when digging, planting, pruning, and more.

Start with some preseason training. Every gardener knows gardening is a workout and often involves different motions and muscles than other exercises. Always warm up your muscles and do a bit of stretching before getting out in the garden.

Enlist the help of wheeled carts and wagons to move plants, mulch, soil, and other heavy loads. Don’t be afraid to break heavy loads into smaller batches or ask for help. You’ll spare your muscles and probably save time in the long run.

Wear a pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes and don’t forget the sunscreen. Take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water.

Preseason planning and preparation can help reduce muscle strain as the garden season begins. You’ll boost your enjoyment and be able to garden longer.

 

Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Revised Edition, and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

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Celebrate the Year of the Asclepias by Planting Milkweed

Image courtesy of MelindaMyers.com

Grow milkweed (Asclepias) to support monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees while adding color, fragrance, and beauty to your landscape. You’ll find native milkweeds throughout North and South America. In recognition of this garden star’s attributes, 2025 has been deemed the Year of the Asclepias by the National Garden Bureau.

With so many to choose from, select the milkweed that is best suited to the growing conditions, your landscape design, and garden maintenance.  Some milkweeds are very aggressive and can quickly take over garden beds and large areas in the landscape, requiring time and effort to maintain their spread.

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is one of the tamer milkweeds with lots of ornamental appeal. This adaptable milkweed is hardy in zones three to ten and was named the 2017 Perennial Plant of the Year.

Grow butterfly milkweed in full sun with well-drained soil. You’ll appreciate its drought tolerance once it’s established.  If you are gardening in clay soil, consider growing Asclepias tuberosa var. clay, a natural variant found growing on clay soil. Mark the location of any butterfly milkweed in the garden or plant some spring flowering bulbs nearby to avoid accidentally digging up this late-to-emerge perennial.

You’ll enjoy the orange blossoms in meadow, prairie, and even semi-formal gardens. Combine this beauty with yellow, purple, and blue flowers. Deadhead faded flowers to extend bloom time and prevent reseeding if this is a concern.

When looking for a bit larger plant that tolerates moist to wet and occasionally dry soils, check out red milkweed (Syriaca incarnata), also known as pink and swamp milkweed. You’ll enjoy the fragrant reddish-pink flowers and the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds that visit the flowers.

It’s hardy in zones three to nine plus red milkweed grows three to five feet tall in upright clumps. The flowers are followed by narrow pods that release silky-haired seeds like other milkweeds. It grows best in full sun with moist soil and is less aggressive than common milkweed. Grow this milkweed in sunny mixed borders, natural gardens, rain gardens, and alongside ponds. And best of all, the deer and rabbits tend to leave it, and other milkweeds, be.

Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca is a favorite of monarchs, hardy in zones three to eight, but very aggressive, spreading by deep rhizomes and seeds. The purple-pink flowers are fragrant at night, and you will find a variety of butterflies stopping by for a visit. Keep it contained by persistently removing unwanted suckers and seedpods before they open to prevent reseeding.

Sullivant’s milkweed Asclepias sullivantii is similar but a bit less aggressive. It has the same great butterfly appeal and is hardy in zones four to seven.

These are just a few of the more than 100 native milkweed species, many of which you may want to add to your gardens. You can find out more about the species native to your region in the Milkweed Regional Guides located on the Xerces Society website.  You are sure to find one or more to add to your garden beds.

Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Revised Edition, and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

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Maximize Seed Starting Success with a Seed Starting Chart

Image courtesy of Melinda Myers

Now is the time when many of us are busy ordering seeds. We often end up with many seeds, some new ones we needed or wanted and perhaps a few duplicates of those we have left from past seasons. It is easy to overlook some of these as the indoor and outdoor planting season begins.

Save money by inventorying your current seed collection, reducing the risk of ordering seeds you don’t need. Decide what seeds you want to keep and grow this season and those you want to pass along to or swap with gardening friends.  You may choose to make seed art with older or improperly stored seeds and invest in fresh seeds that are sure to germinate.

If in doubt, check the seed viability of older stored seeds with a simple germination test.  Wrap ten seeds in a damp paper towel and place them inside a plastic bag.  Check the seeds in a week or so to see how many sprout. If all the seeds sprout, follow the planting guidelines on the seed packets. When only half the seeds sprout, you will need to plant the seeds twice as thick and so on.

Check catalogs and your favorite garden center for any seeds you need to purchase. Place your order early for the best selection.

Once the seeds arrive, look at the back of the packet to determine when to start the seeds indoors or out.  Many seed companies now provide this information on their website instead of the seed packet.  Check with your local University Extension website for recommended planting dates in your area.

Record the start date on your calendar, garden chart, or spreadsheet to make the process easier. Consider organizing your seeds to make it easier to find and plant them at the proper time. You may want to organize the seeds in alphabetical order or by the month for planting. Design a system that works best for you.

You can create your own seed storage organizer or purchase one. Store the seeds in a cool dark location in an airtight container to help maintain their viability and keep them safe from mice.

Once your seed starting schedule is created and seeds are organized, prepare the space for starting seeds indoors if needed. Make sure your grow lights are in working order and you have sufficient containers, flats, and seed starting mix for planting.

Save money by repurposing yogurt, applesauce, and similar food containers into seed starting pots. Just clean and add drainage holes. Look for used cell packs, flats, and small pots that can be used again. Disinfect these by soaking them in a one-part bleach and nine-part water solution for ten minutes then rinse with clear water. Repurposing saves you money and helps reduce plastic waste and the risk of disease that could kill your seedlings.

Taking time to plan and organize now can save you money while helping you maximize the productivity and beauty of your gardens.

By Melinda Myers. She has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Revised Edition, and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.