GARDEN: It looks like it might be spring for real this time. Are you ready to garden?
The Penn State Extension office has a list of tips for prepping your garden for the season.
First, the educators suggest, is to make a spring inspection.
“Walk around your gardens with a notebook in hand. Check for the beds that you need to clean out, for snow and ice damage on plants, and for shifted or rotted hardscaping. Note deer or rodent damage to woody plants. It’s a good idea to look for new animal burrows from nuisance wildlife like skunks or rabbits.
“Prioritize your list and copy it into a garden journal — experienced gardeners understand the importance of recording what is happening in their gardens each season. You may want to repair damaged hardscaping such as broken fences, trellises, and raised beds first while your plants are still dormant. Spring is the best time to build new raised beds.”
The second step is to make sure you are ready, after a long winter, for the rigors of gardening.
“After your initial inspection of the garden you may be tempted to rush outside and start raking, but muscles that you haven’t used since last fall will be aching for days. Stretch before you work! While gardening, stop periodically and do some simple exercises. Hoeing, digging, and raking can cause shoulder pain.”
They offer a few suggestions to help: “Try shoulder shrugs: raise your shoulders slowly toward your ears, hold and slowly release. Do this exercise three or four times with a few seconds rest between repetitions. Do not bend over to plant or weed — get down on your hands and knees to avoid lower back problems. An excellent exercise in this position is the cat stretch: raise your stomach and back into an arch like a cat waking from a nap. At the same time lower your head and tuck your chin towards your chest. Do this exercise slowly and rest between repetitions.
”Using a trowel or pruners can stress your hands and wrists. Let your wrists go limp then rotate them in one direction then the other. Shake them out to get the circulation going. Spread out your fingers and make circles with your thumbs, then touch your thumb to each finger in turn.”
We’ll have more tips to come.
