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More garden safety tips

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As with just about anything you do around the home or in the workplace, it’s important to practice gardening safety when you garden. There’d be nothing worse than seriously injuring yourself while you’re gardening and then ending up being unable to maintain your lovely garden.

Health Precautions

Since one aspect of gardening is digging in the earth, possibly working with thorny plants (roses anyone?) and sometimes working with tools that have a little rust on them it’s important to make sure that your Tetanus shots are up to date. Most people only require a Tetanus booster every ten years, but if you are an avid gardener your doctor might recommend that you get booster shots a little more frequently.

You can get some nasty infections from the fungus on rose thorns or the bacteria in your garden soil so if you are working in the garden and end up getting slivers or thorns stuck in your skin try to remove them as soon as you are finished your tasks. Wash the puncture wounds and any other wounds that you acquire while gardening and then apply an antiseptic to prevent infection.

Tool Safety

One major aspect of gardening safety is the safe use of gardening tools. Be sure to store them in an area where children or possibly even pets can’t get at them. When you are using your gardening tools also try to be mindful of where each tool is located, especially if you have friends or family members out in the yard with you. I’m sure everyone can either remember stepping on a rake that was placed on the ground the wrong way and being hit in the face or watching someone else do it.

Perhaps store you smaller gardening tools in a gardening belt or tool belt so they are handy and close to you at all times. A bucket with a handle would also be a great place to store tools as you work in the garden.

Dull gardening tools often make worse cuts (on plants and on our skin!) so make sure your pruners and other cutting tools and blades are sharp and kept free of rust, and handle with care.

Chemical Safety

If you use chemicals in your garden – fertilizers, weed killers or other chemicals please make sure that you are storing them safely and using them as directed. Of course you can make it really easy on yourself and be like me and just not use any chemicals in the garden at all!

Some chemicals are quite toxic when being used and require that a mask and safety clothing be worn when applying them to your plants. Be sure to read the directions before starting to use a chemical in your yard and where appropriate protection if necessary. Also be sure that family members, friends and neighbors or pets aren’t nearby when using potentially toxic chemicals and keep pets and people away until the level of toxicity goes down whether that be an hour or a few days.

Also remember to read the label when it comes to disposing of used chemical bottles or left over chemicals. Sometimes you can simple put the containers in your recycling and other times you might have to drop them off at a special depot.

If you always make sure that you practice garden safety you, your family, pets and friends will be able to enjoy the time in the garden.

Don’t forget to read the first article on Gardening Safety that I published earlier this month in order to avoid injuring yourself while planting new plants in the garden and more.






Gardening Products

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Have you been wondering what some of the coolest garden gear and gadgets are this year? Well here’s a list of the top ten must have gardening items for 2007. On this list you’ll find high tech devices and long standing tried and true gardening staples.

The Tilterator

Who doesn’t want compost fast, and a lot of it? Made from re-cycled plastic the Tilterator’s clever design allows for fast access to the contents for quick, effortless mixing. Simply remove the two end panels and pivot the Tilterator away. Easily replace one end panel and fork the contents back into the unit. Replace the other end panel and your compost is off and cooking again.

GreenCure

Gardeners have fought the onslaught of powdery mildew and other plant diseases with organic and traditional methods. In most cases, previous techniques could only prevent the spread, not actually cure the disease.

GreenCure effective at treating 25 plant diseases, plus it also has the unique ability to kill powdery mildew fungus. In more than 200 university studies it has proven its effectiveness. Best of all, it’s safe to use.

CobraHead Long Handle

Deep tap-rooted weeds are eradicated just as easily with the ergonomic way in which you approach the weeds from the backside and pull toward yourself. The CobraHead enables gardeners of all ages to attack weeds with confidence and comfort.

Nelson Remote Rain

A remote controlled device to turn water on and off. With the Remote Rain device, simply click the remote, the water shuts off, move the sprinkler and with one more click of the remote, the water is back on again.

‘The Truth About Garden Remedies’

“The Truth about Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why,” written by Jeff Gillman, Ph.D.

Jeff tested those claims of old wives tales and home made remedies, and gives us first-hand accounts of what worked and what didn’t. Written with sharp wit and in a light hearted manner this book is not only helpful but an enjoyable read.

Dual-Flo professional grade nozzle

Choice Products have developed a nozzle design that has the unique ability to deliver a soft stream of water, suitable for gently filling watering cans and buckets or for watering tender plants directly. However, with one easy twist of a side mounted knob, it instantly redirects the water into a high pressure flow, strong enough to clean even the most stubborn mud off a driveway.

Scotts Deluxe EdgeGuard broadcast spreader

The EdgeGuard spreader has a feature that allows it to serve as a broadcast- and as a drop-spreader in one. An easy to use on/off control lever instantly activates a protective shield below the hopper that prevents fertilizer and other chemicals from being thrown onto areas where it is not intended, such as waterways, streets and other impervious surfaces.

Fiskars Power-Lever Easy Reach Pruner

These Pruners can get into hard to reach places that larger pruners and loppers just can’t get into. Provides clean cuts, and the design allows for increased cutting power. There is a 15 inch model and a 25 inches model.

Velcro plant ties and straps

Hook and loop plant ties easily secure vegetable plant stems and flower stalks to stakes, bundle tools or taming an unruly garden hose.

TerraCycle

This product is garbage, literally! Garbage is fed to worms whose organic waste (poop actually) is nutrient rich food for plants. The technical term for the process of collecting worm castings (poop) is vermicomposting. The value of worm castings to plants and soil is clearly documented and backed by years of scientific research.

TerraCycle’s marquis products are plant foods that are all natural, liquid fertilizers that are effective yet safe for the environment and readily available through mass market retailers.

My favorite gardening tools

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Name your favorite gardening tools?

Some of my favorite, don’t go into the garden without them, tools are my Felco pruners. If I walk outside my back or front door you can be sure the pruners are in my hand or at least resting on the steps easily ready for me when I need them. I always need them BTW.

I often also have a pair of scissors handy – left handed ones of course, and some plastic green garden ribbon / tape, or velcro ties.

I like a tidy garden, so snipping and pruning are chores that often take place even when I only mean to go outside and wander through the garden for a quick peek at what’s blooming that day. Therefore my bamboo stakes are in a handy area of my “under the back porch” storage area.

One other tool that is almost always nearby when step into the garden is my hand trowel. I don’t use it so much to dig up plants as to pat down holes that squirrels or cats have dug etc. Of course in the spring and early summer I usually do use it for digging and planting.

Oh yes my camera almost always makes the trip to the garden too – you never know what you might find that’s photo worthy.

So which tools do you use most often in the garden and why are they your favorites?

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