Spring Gardening Safety Alert

Spring often means suddenly doing much more gardening, DIY and outdoor cleaning after a quieter winter. A sudden increase in activity, repetitive tasks and doing more than your body is used to can all leave you feeling sore.

🌿 Long periods of weeding and planting
🌿 Repetitive jobs such as raking or shovelling
🌿 Staying in one position for too long
🌿 Lifting and carrying compost, pots and garden waste
🌿 Trying to get a whole winter's worth of jobs done in one weekend!

A few simple ways to make things easier:

✔ Change position regularly rather than staying bent or kneeling for long periods.
✔ With heavier or awkward loads, plan the lift, keep the load reasonably close and use a wheelbarrow or get help where appropriate.
✔ Build up gradually if you haven't done much gardening over the winter.
✔ And perhaps most importantly, don't do one job for too long.

Take regular pauses. Stand up, move around, gently stretch if that feels good, and take a moment to admire your work.

Your back is designed to move, so you don't need to be frightened of bending or lifting. But if a particular task is becoming increasingly uncomfortable, that's a good reason to change position, switch jobs or take a break rather than pushing on regardless.
It’s surprisingly easy to ignore the early signs when you’re absorbed in a task!