It’s funny how a person changes with age. All those things we once swore we’d never become, well, it happens. Ten years ago (ok, maybe 15) if I were to garden I would probably have done so in the heat of the day, covered in sun tan oil, with as little clothes as possible. And of course I would have been too stubborn to wear a hat.
Now I try to avoid the heat of the day, cover myself in sunscreen, wear a sunhat and gloves, and make sure I have a water bottle handy to keep myself hydrated. I always seem to wear my “garden pants” or capris; I never wear shorts because I can’t stand getting my knees caked with dirt or kneeling on the hard ground. I keep telling myself this has nothing to do with age; I’m just smarter now then I was before. (And it definitely has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t handle the heat like I used to.)
Anyway, getting back on topic...
Every time I head out to the garden I grab what I consider my essentials: spray on “Cooling Mist” sun screen, sun hat, gardening gloves, water bottle and my I-pod Shuffle. Once in the garden my tools consist of a little hand held spade and a 15 gallon weed bucket. At that’s it. (This year I’ve had to add mosquito repellent to my list.)
My number one item is my Shuffle; I would be lost without it. It’s usually turned on before I leave the house and it normally doesn’t get shut off until I’m back inside. It’s nice to block out the traffic and lawn mower noise and just be in my own little garden world. One added bonus of my Shuffle is that it saves my sanity by blocking the buzzing of mosquitoes and therefore reduces the need for mosquito spray. I am lucky to still have my Shuffle – it’s gone through the washing machine once and thankfully still works! Ten years ago I never would have listened to anything while outside; I would have been on high alert for any noise thinking every little thing I heard was a bear because I had/have a severe fear of bears. Thanks to our deer fence and garden gate, I don’t have to worry (too much) about bears sneaking up on me and as long as I stay facing the gate nothing can sneak up and scare me.
When it comes to gardening there are tons of gadgets, widgets and hoojaas that a person could use. I get tempted with everything and try not to get sucked in. Over time I have learnt that all the nifty, trendy garden gadgets only end up costing me money, don’t usually work or just make things more difficult. I figure people have been growing gardens and working in them since almost the beginning of time and they didn’t have access to the things we do now: and they probably had better gardens then we have today.
There are some tools that are a must for gardening. ie: rakes, shovels, hoe, hose, watering cans, etc. One piece of advice I have to pass along when it comes to buying these items is this: don’t cheap out. On occasion we have tried to be cheap or bought something because it seemed like a deal. History has proven that when we make these purchases, 99% of the time the item gets returned because it’s a piece of crap or it breaks within the first few uses.
To repeat myself: don’t cheap out, buy the good stuff the first time and save yourself a lot time and headache.
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