The Rural Voice, 2006-04, Page 47Gardening
Gardening for a healthy mind and body
Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
April is upon us and if you haven't
been poking around in the garden
before now, you have the patience of a
saint.
The wicked wet snow and ice storm
that went through the end of January
did a grave amount of damage. Trees
and shrubs were loaded with great gobs
of wet snow that froze overnight and
broke many major and minor limbs and
even whole trees.
We saw three of our 10 -foot
conifers bent over double with their
poor tree tips buried in a snow drift. We
waded out with shovels and carefully
tried to free the limbs. For two of the
three this worked and over the next
couple of days we saw their tips come
up. But the third was an older white
pine with thicker trunk and limbs.
Today it still has a dreadful lean to it
and we have begun gently staking it
back into its upright position. I look at
it and wince. It looks like I feel after a
day in the garden when I can hardly
stretch myself into an upright position.
Gardening, especially in the early
spring can be quite taxing on our
muscular system. I have been playing
squash during the last couple of winters
and it 4 as helped keep me limber for
those first few heavy forays into the
garden.
Working outside puts us in such a
wonderful state of mind despite the
physically challenging aspects. The
health benefits of gardening is a best -
kept exercise secret. Raking has been
compared to rowing, shoveling to
lifting weights, and pushing a lawn
mower to walking on a treadmill. We
use all the major muscle groups and
this increases flexibility, and
strengthens our joints.
The recommended 30 minutes a day
of physical exercise like gardening
lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
levels, slows osteoporosis, and helps
prevent heart disease. Now tell me that
gardeners spend only 30 minutes a day
in their garden and I will show you
someone who doesn't garden very
much. Gardeners often spend whole
days in the garden. If you were to spend
that in a gym you would say you were
overdoing it.
With that in mind vary your
activities. Don't spend hours digging
out that new vegetable bed. Break up
the time with some raking or weeding.
Use a lightweight, long -handled shovel
or spade and never overload it.
Remember to bend at the knee and step
forward as you raise and dump each
shovel full of soil. I was remembering
all this while I shovelled snow this
spring. I consoled myself that it was
practise for gardening time.
If you are on,your knees, use a
cushion. Those little soft rectangle
green pads are great. Although I find
them a nuisance to keep track of, they
do save the knees. And just like
grandmother used to say, keep your
back straight and don't sit on your
heels. Stand up and stretch your legs
every 10 minutes; about the time 4t
takes to fill a pail with weeds and then
it is time to walk over and empty it in
the wheel barrow at the end of the
garden.
I read one suggestion that you treat
gardening like an aerobics session and
place blocks around the garden that you
have to step onto and off of. I spend too
much time dodging pails of weeds,
baskets of tools, the dog and the pile of
brush I usually pull out of the back of
the garden, to further litter up my
worksite with boxes to step on. Some
people have too much time on their
hands. Now a few blocks and a
workout on a day when I am not
gardening is quite another story.
So this spring protect yourself. Start
doing some simple stretches every day
for a couple of weeks before you tackle
the outside work. It helps prime your
muscles. Once outside, don't forget the
sun and wear your sunscreen,
sunglasses, a hat and appropriate
clothes. Protect your hands with sturdy
gloves. It saves discomfort and
infection from blisters, thorns, and cuts.
Don't forget to wear some bug spray on
yourself to avoid mosquitoes and West
Nile Virus.
I suppose I should mention garden
insect and herbicide sprays. Always
read the directions carefully and protect
not only yourself but your pets and
children by keeping them away from
your spraying area. Or better yet —
don't use the sprays and try some
insecticidal soap.
And there is always the lifting.
Whether is it new pots of trees or
shrubs, full wheel barrows of compost
or bags of mulch for the garden, always
lift with your legs and not your back.
Keep the weight close to your body and
don't overextend yourself with a load
in your arms. I learned the hard way
when I leaned over too far with a full
four -litre jug of milk in my hand. After
a few days of intense pain you could
say I teamed my lesson all too well.
We have a one -day challenge among
health units across the province where
you have as many of your employees
commit to 30 minutes of exercise for
that day. It could be going for a walk
on your break, hitting the gym first
thing in the morning or cutting your
grass that evening. Gardening was
listed as an activity.
Often diet -conscious people look at
activity as. a way of burning off
cheesecake or maybe winter fudge —
okay so maybe I am the only one who
does that. So here are some typical
calories burned in 30 minutes of:
sleeping 36; mowing the lawn (riding)
101; mowing with a push mower 182;
bagging leaves or planting seedlings
162; planting trees' 182; trimming
shrubs manually 182; weeding 182;
digging, spading, tilling 202; chopping
wood 243; double digging 344 and
shoveling heavy snow 364. I had to
include sleeping as a benchmark and
shovelling snow as a reminder of how
great spring is.
Since gardening is exercise don't
forget to stretch beforehand to warm
up, and cool down after you are done
and always drink lots of water. The old
saying no pain no gain is not right.
Don't overdo it the first few times
outside. It is quite easy to get caught up
with all the spring cleanup but
remember there is always tomorrow —
but if you strain yourself today you
may not get back out for several days
'or weeks. And that would be a terrible
garden setback.0
APRIL 2006 43