Home Care: Gardening is a popular hobby after retirement.
It’s also one that gives your mom some exercise as she bends down, uses a shovel, and pushes a garden cart around. As her mobility changes, her favorite hobby doesn’t have to come to an end. Here are great tips for your home care provider and senior, that will make gardening easier for her.
Extendable Grabber Tool
When your mom struggles to squat down or bend over, a grabber tool makes it easier to reach things on the ground. She can use an extendable grabber to pick some vegetables or move plants to see if anything is ready to harvest.
There are also extendable grabbing tools that help remove weeds. Weeding doesn’t have to challenge your mom when she has these tools.
Raised Bed Gardens
Consider putting in raised bed gardens with seating along the edges. Your mom will still have the opportunity to work in her garden beds, but she does so from a safe, seated position. If she needs a wheelchair, a raised bed table that has room for wheelchair access is best.
You can purchase raised beds in kits that are ready to assemble. Otherwise, you could build them using some cedar boards and decking nails or screws. Place a layer of wet cardboard in the bottom to kill the grass before turning it into compost.
Kneeling Pad
If your mom can get down on her hands and knees and stand back up, a kneeling pad prevents discomfort when kneeling on hand ground. This pad also provides a buffer between damp lawn and your mom’s knees or pant legs.
She may want a kneeling pad that is attached to sturdy arms. When she stands back up, she has the arms on the pad providing support.
Rolling Garden Seats
A rolling garden seat may be helpful. It’s on heavy-duty wheels, which makes it easy to pull behind you. Load it with hand-held garden tools and position it near the garden. While your mom works on her flower or vegetable beds, she sits down on the swivel seat. The movement of this seat makes it easy for her to reach other areas without getting up and moving.
Home Care: Make Sure Someone Checks on Her
Have you thought about having professional caregivers around when your mom is most likely to be in her gardens? When it’s hot, your mom runs a risk of being outside for too long. If she fell, would anyone be there to help her out?
With home care aides, your mom has someone in the home to check that she’s staying hydrated, applying sunscreen, and taking breaks from the heat. Call a home care specialist to set up interviews and learn more about prices.