Gardening with a bad knee

I have had problems with my right knee for many years. In gardening I find the getting up and down in the process of weeding or planting make my knee feel worse. Can any one offer some tips?
Bug Girl

Hello Bug Girl,
I use a small stool made by rubbermaid. I can sit on it without the trouble of getting up and down. I just move it over to the next place for weeding and planting.

A gardening weasel is a good investment too. That will enable you to get the weeds without getting up and down at all. If you can get one of those bent fork things to rake with. I don't know the name, but they are like a hand tool, but with a long handle like on your hoe. I could not do without those two. (This year even those were not enough. LOL)

I use a Winged Weeder in the small size with a long handle. I love it since I can get close to the plants without severing the plant. Then I use lots of compost to topdress my plants. I got two new knees this past January so I know what you are going through. Lani

Oh girls...I have been told that my arthroscopy didn't do enough and I need a left replacement and I am so scarred!!

Good luck Sheri, we'll be thinking of you.
Where do you guys get these long handled garden tools? Can you order them?

I've got bad knees too.

I started container gardening last year. Much easier and easier to get to.
Vickie

I don't have bad knees but almost all my gardening is in containers or by proxy.

Have osteoarthritis myself. Have a very conscientious and likable doctor, but in his own tactful way, on my last annual check up, he looked at the X-rays and said "You're full of arthritis".

Find it a large challenge to get up from a kneeling position. On those occasions, when I feel I have to kneel I push myself up with a long-handed trowel or a spade.

Within the last few years have really taken to hoeing. Find the old style (english?) hoe a very useful tool for a lot of weeding. Find the size with a 4- inch wide (blade?) the most manoeuvrable and easiest to use.
Usually don't see this type of hoe for sale here. Got hoes this summer from a local hardware store.

long-handled hoe, or short, Sunny?

Good question!
Long-handed.
Just checked: whole tool is about 4 ft 10 inches.

Remember long-time horticulturalist, David Tomlinson (Merlin's Hollow, Aurora, Canada) emphasizing what an efficient way of handling weeds a hoe is. Took me maybe ten years and arthritis to really appreciate what he was saying. We garden on upgraded clay here.

Hoeing is no good for a weed that runs underground, but it's great for many weeds. As we were saying on another thread, it's wonderful for chickweed. Just hoe away the weed, before it flowers and seeds, and hoe away its seedlings when they appear.

http://doitbest.com/search-creative+enterprises.dib is the outlet now to buy the Winged Weeder from. I like the Long handled winged weeder Jr. the best, hubby likes the Jr. with the short handle but he can get onto his knees easily and I can't. I like that you can hoe on the back stroke as easily as on the forward push and that it is small enough to get between most plants in my gardens and the tip is small enough to do almost all the up close weeding if you are careful at it.

BirdieBlue, Find a great surgeon for your knee and there is hardly anything to fear. In less than ten days I had less pain than before my knee replacement and it felt so good to be done with that really bad pain that I had. I had both knees done at the same time and then just four years later I had a hip replaced. Be sure and do your therapy as that is really the most important part of it. Force yourself into pushing to get the range of motion quickly after surgery so scar tissue doesn't limit your knee. The knees have really come a long way since our parents/uncles/aunts etc needed theirs done. You will be fine and if you need any more info just dmail me. I'll try to help you through this.

Lani

ponditis, Thanks for the link.Have bookmarked them untill i can order them. I have another question. Do you ever sharpen or have sharpened your hoes? The ones i have now have been used so long they are dull and harder to use.
TIA
Vickie

I have sharpened my hoes. I put them on the grinding wheel and grind them till sharper and then finish them with a stone. Only sharpen the side of the blade that is slanted not the flat side of the hoe.

The winged weeders I have only had to sharpen one of them and with it I just used our gravel driveway till it sharped up and lost the rust that was on it. That gravel did the trick. Hope that helps ya.