Gardening is a Hazardous Sport

Pruning roses?  Thorns can all out lacerate.  Bugs? Encountering a ground-nest of bees while digging a new garden, can be a bummer buzz.  Sunburn? That garden project took MUCH longer than it was supposed to.

You might imagine gardening and plant maintenance is a walk in the park but there are things to watch out for as you grab your shovel and pruners and head outside.

I will be the first to admit – I am not very graceful.  I’m even borderline klutzy.  Before I was married, my then fiancé and I thought ballroom dancing lessons would be good, he’s got rhythm and I don’t.  Needless to say we didn’t do any fancy dancing at our wedding.

Unfortunately, my lack of grace carries through in my work at times, whether it be a rush to get a project done before the rain or simple bullheadedness telling me “I am woman, I CAN lift that rock by MYSELF”!  I want to share some of my misfortunes and injuries with you A) for a good laugh, and B) to hopefully get you thinking and prevent your own bumps and bruises while gardening.

Fortunately for me and my past employers, I can only recall one major injury.  The summer before my junior year of college, I was interning for a landscape contractor who also happened to have many acres of nursery stock in the ground.  I was watering trees in the field with a co-worker. We were starting to cleanup to move the water truck to another location when OOPS!, my index finger and the hose reel on the truck had a not so nice meeting.

My co-worker rushed me to the doctor’s office.   Given the pain and bleeding, it was the least of my worries that he didn’t have a drivers license and was driving my father’s car.  I tried to stay calm as he freaked out behind the wheel due to the blood.  I was lucky. I lost the tip of my finger but no other damage.  Lesson 1 – stay away from spray/water trucks.

Many of my injuries occur on my own property, and as I was taking inventory this week I realized they tend to happen in early summer every year.  Memorial day weekend I was lugging boxes for our annual yard sale.  I noticed a slight ache in my back, no big deal, I told myself, it will go away, keep working.  The next day I was picking strawberries in my garden and realized that this back thing was worse and I couldn’t stand up straight.  As I was walking up to the house my husband says – you look like your grandpa all hunched over.  Great.

Poison Ivy

Of course I spent the rest of the week at the Native Plants Conference, priorities – doctor or conference – I choose conference.  Guess I should have chosen more wisely.  After a visit to my chiropractor early this week I was told I sprained my back – OOPS.  So now I must garden while scooting around on my rear end, I feel so unproductive!  Lesson 2 – start that exercise regimen from my New Year’s resolution.

While lots of injuries are not this serious, I am famous for stepping in holes, wearing the wrong shoes for digging (I love my Crocs but they don’t work so well with a steel shovel),  or forgetting to wear gloves when pulling Poison Ivy.  So please, learn from my mistakes and weed with your eyes open (know what you are pulling out), dig while wearing work boots, and stretch your back every morning to help prevent strain.