Adaptive Gardening: 25 Tips and Tools to Keep You Gardening As You Age

There is much proof that gardening is good for us. But how do we keep ourselves safe and healthy as we age while continuing to garden? Certain tasks become more challenging as we lose some of our strength, grip, and dexterity, but this shouldn’t keep us from being outside, doing what we love. 

Growing food and flowers continues to be good for our health and wellness, especially as we age, and with new tools on the market to make gardening chores more comfortable, it’s easier than ever to stay out there. 

Tools For Gardening As You Age

While ergonomic tools can and should be used by gardeners of all ages, some tools target parts of our bodies that need extra support as we age. Here are some amazing tools that will keep you gardening and feeling comfortable. 

Garden Kneeler 

Our knees are often a part of our bodies that get ignored, but when overutilized and under-supported, they can cause aches and pains that spread throughout the rest of our body. The act of kneeling and bending repeatedly in the garden may be no big deal in our younger years, but it can cause detrimental stress on our joints as we age. 

A waterproof foam rubber knee pad is the perfect garden sidekick to protect your knees when you’re weeding, mulching, or transplanting. It will stabilize you while your hands are doing the important work, keep your knees dry, and protect you from sharp rocks and sticks that may otherwise cut your skin. 

Select something easy to clean, transport, and store. They’re inexpensive enough to purchase a few and store them in different areas of your garden.

Raised Garden Beds 

Raised beds are all the rage right now, and for good reason. Many companies sell garden beds you put together yourself at home to the specs you prefer. They come in different shapes, sizes, and heights to fit your needs. Ensure your raised beds are at least six inches off the ground, especially when growing crops with long taproots. The taller your raised beds, the less you’ll have to bend over. 

Epic Gardening’s metal raised beds can be configured to your liking and come in a variety of sleek colors, sizes, and depths. Benefits of gardening in raised beds include decreased weed pressure, improved drainage, and more control. The bonus for aging gardeners includes not having to bend over to the ground and being able to position them near your home for easy access. 

Ergonomic Hand Tools 

There’s no need to be uncomfortable while gardening when there are so many companies making tools that alleviate aches and pains. Let’s check out some of them. 

CobraHead Weeder & Cultivator

One of my absolute favorite weeding tools is the CobraHead Weeder & Cultivator. When plants are young and vulnerable to damage, this tool slips in-between and around the stems, removing tiny germinated weed seeds. Our community loves this tool for the spade-shaped tip that breaks up crusty soil surfaces and grasps the roots of stubborn weeds. Use it to help you transplant and tackle weedy sidewalk cracks.

Its handle is soft and comfortable to hold during gardening tasks and it can be used by both right and left-handed individuals. Save yourself from tendonitis and achy hand and forearm muscles with this useful tool.

Long-Handled Standing Tools

Most vintage tools have wooden handles that can be sanded, oiled, and maintained for long-term use. For ergonomic purposes, I recommend selecting more modern and adaptive gardening tools with longer handles for people of all heights, soft padding for comfort, and shock absorption that are easier to clean and maintain. 

Broadfork

If you practice no-till gardening, there are new, lightweight broadforks on the market that make aerating your soil and incorporating amendments quick and easy. Just step on the fork to push the tines into the soil surface as far as you can, gently pull back, and pull it out.

Repeat this down the length of your garden plot about every six inches or so. I like to do this before sprinkling amendments so they get into the soil more efficiently. Then, I go through the whole area with a rake to smooth it out before sowing or transplanting.

Battery-Powered Tilther

This tool is especially great if you have thick or clay-like soil but don’t want to use big machinery like a tiller. Just connect a battery-charged drill to it, and off you go. It’s a standard walk-behind tool with adjustable height and handles.

It works great in 30-inch bed systems and gently fluffs up the top few layers, creating a smooth surface for direct seeding. A tilther can also be used on newly opened garden plots. 

Planting Tools

Planting is one of the toughest garden chores on the body. There are lots of adaptive gardening tools on the market today to assist. 

Push Seeders

If you grow large amounts of food and are seeding several successions a season of direct-seeded crops, you need a standing seeder! This adaptive gardening innovation allows you to sow seeds while standing up and wheeling a lightweight implement.

Hand-Held Standing Transplanters

All the bending over required when transplanting can be back-breaking. Standing transplanters are tall, tubular, metal tools that make this process much easier on the body. While standing, place the end of the tool where you want the transplant to live. Load the transplant, poke the end into the soil, squeeze the trigger, and then release. Boom! The transplant hole has been opened up and filled in just seconds. 

This adaptive gardening tool can save hours on your knees, bending your back awkwardly, and the repetitive hand-squeezing motion that causes pain and tension. It can be used with various-sized transplants, bulbs, and potatoes, all without the need for heavy machinery or fuel, and done while comfortably standing. 

Power Planter AKA Auger

Similar to the standing transplanter, this handy auger can dig your transplant holes for you so you can just drop in your plants, tamp down the soil, and be on your way. The adaptive gardening auger works in conjunction with most electric drills and takes a little more practice to get the results you want. 

Grow Smarter, Not Harder

Simple and uniquely adaptive tools can help make gardening much more enjoyable and comfortable. Here are a few more of our favorites.

Quality Gloves 

This may seem self-explanatory, but the simple act of wearing gardening gloves is something many of us don’t do regularly. Sometimes we forget they’re in the laundry or they’ve been misplaced. After a long day working in the soil, our hands can dry out, become callused, and even cut from small items in our soil. 

Our hands are the second place on our bodies. We show age there since the skin is thin, and we use our hands for, well, everything! Keep them safe by wearing high-quality gloves. 

Sun Safety 

Being in the sun for extended periods while tending to your garden can be hard on your skin. As we age, our skin naturally becomes thinner, making it even more important to protect ourselves from UVA and UVB rays. A wide-brimmed sun hat and SPF on all parts of our body, even our hands and feet, is crucial for preventing sun damage. Ideally, find an environmentally friendly and coral-safe SPF.

Garden Cart or Bag

No one needs to be lugging heavy tools and equipment all over the garden. Invest in a small garden cart on wheels that holds all your hand tools, gloves, and a water bottle. Store it somewhere convenient to grab on your way out to the garden, where it stays clean and dry.  

Cushioned Seat

Why stand when you can sit? Purchase a small seat that easily folds up to be transported around the garden as you work and stored for later use. Most of these feature large side pockets for glove and tool storage to boot. Stay comfy while gardening with a portable, foldable seat. They are perfect for individuals with limited mobility, but also for taking a short break to grab a swig of water. 

Fabric Grow Bags

Lined and unlined grow bags can be elevated up on pallets or garden benches to allow you to garden without all the bending over. Today’s grow bags aren’t your grandma’s ceramic pots. They’re breathable, prevent plants from becoming rootbound, and are virtually impossible to overwater.

Grow bags range from 3-gallon for lettuce, 7-gallon for single tomatoes, and 60-gallon for a wide range of crops. You can even grow trees in grow bags with ease!

Dibble Boards

If you use cell trays to start your season, you know the struggle of getting an even dibble in each cell at the perfect seed depth. This may be difficult if you don’t have a lot of strength in your fingers.

Pre-made wooden and plastic dibblers sell online for a pretty penny, but if you’re handy, you can make your own that fits your trays exactly. With some plywood, strong glue, and wooden dowels, you’ll have a dibbler that will last for years to come. 

Vertical Growing

The GreenStalk 5-Tier Vertical Planter by Epic Gardening is perfect for people who have cut back on their gardening space but still want to grow some of their vegetables and herbs. The GreenStalk allows you to stand (for the most part) while planting, watering, and harvesting.

This adaptive tool offers 30 planting pockets with a wide range of gardening options, including strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and root veggies. Other ways to grow vertically include window boxes, hanging shoe organizers, or pallets on the wall. 

Pro tip: There is an optional base with wheels that makes moving the planter a breeze. 

Harvest Tools

Harvesting from the garden can be a big task at any age, but as we get older, simple tasks may become more difficult due to decreased strength and grip, difficulty reaching, or inability to lift as much weight. Here are some harvest tools that should help.

Harvest Pouches/Bags

Have you ever been doing a quick chore or garden walk-through on a non-harvest day, but you notice lots of cucumbers begging to be picked? Have you ever filled your pockets and arms and random nearby buckets with produce because you went out to the garden unprepared? Keeping a harvest pouch nearby should relieve you of these issues. 

Harvest pouches are heavy-duty and adaptive, with a double-sided harness style to keep your body balanced while picking in the garden. Some models have adjustable straps around the chest and waist to allow the piece to fit comfortably, while others simply fit around your waist. The straps are thickly padded. Fill the pouches only as heavy as is comfortable, then empty them and begin again. 

Harvest Rakes 

These are simple tools used to harvest crops like low-bush blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, and chamomile flowers. Individuals with low dexterity or a weak finger grip may find it difficult to harvest small berries and flowers. Harvest rakes are lightweight and easy to maneuver, with a very small learning curve.  

Reach Fruit Picker

Apples and peaches and pears, oh my! Those fruits can sometimes be far out of reach and painful to harvest. An above-head fruit picker allows you to reach fruits without straining your neck, back, and arm muscles. Most models have a small basket attached, so you can work for several minutes before bringing the picker down to empty it before beginning again. 

General Tools

Gardening uses all parts of your body, sometimes in funky ways that we don’t even realize until we’ve tweaked our neck or back and need to head to the chiropractor for an adjustment! Here are a few items that can help keep you in tip-top shape as you complete everyday gardening tasks. 

Ergonomic Hand Snips and Pruners

Nothing’s worse than a clunky pair of pruners that leave your hands throbbing after using them. Enter the lightweight Felco Long Reach Harvesting Snips and Felco 8 Hand Pruner.

You can use them for a long time without discomfort, and they’re easy to adjust and maintain. There’s a reason you know the name Felco! They’ll help your hands stay adaptive and nimble while ensuring efficient gardening chores.

Telescopic pruners have easily adjustable and long handles that can be used to do above-head pruning without using a ladder. 

Overhead Grabbing Tool

When using a tomato, cucumber, or pepper trellising system that involves clipping tall plants up, it can be cumbersome and tough to reach up above your head over and over. The tomato trellis system we have is about nine feet off our high tunnel floor. 

After the first few years of hauling around a step stool and busting into my garden beds each time I set it up, I received a tip from a fellow farmer to use an overhead-grabbing tool to place the trellis hooks on the trellis system up above. This simple gadget was less than $10 and is an absolute game changer. While it’s not technically a gardening tool, it’s a great hack, and I’m happy to let you in on the secret! 

Trellis Clip Bags

Along the same lines as the overhead grabbing tool, a trellis clip bag is a simple pouch connected to a padded strap that fits across your body so you don’t have to bend over into a bucket as you move through your trellised crops. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to save your back the bending. It clips to your belt or pant loop and is lightweight. 

Tips For Gardening As You Age 

Now that we’ve gone through some tools you can use when gardening as you age, here are a few more tips for you before I send you on your way. 

Plant Native and Perennial Plants

This is a good gardening idea for all of us as we adapt to changing climate patterns, but as we age, these plants require less work and attention from us while still providing us with beauty. Select plants that thrive in your growing zone and soil type and that come back each year stronger. Look for plants, flowers, and shrubs that indicate they’re low-maintenance when it comes to soil fertility and watering needs. 

As you build up your native plant garden and your plants become well-established, you’ll notice their ability to withstand whatever Mother Nature throws at them. 

Use Drip Irrigation 

No one loves dragging around heavy, awkward hoses and clunky watering cans. Drip irrigation is an investment for your garden and your body. The initial installation involves cutting headers and drip lines, attaching on/off switches, and laying them out in your garden beds. The lines last several years and are easily held down with a rock or garden staple. 

I recommend walking the line every few times the water is turned on to ensure the placement hasn’t moved into a path, no leaks have sprouted, and no lines have blown off. Always check the water pressure is appropriate for your size system so there are no issues. 

If your operation is too small for drip irrigation, look for small, ergonomic watering cans that have a long pour spout. This makes it easy for gardeners with arthritis or hand and joint pain and those who have trouble picking up a traditional watering can. 

Install Automatic Timers 

We’re all busy and have a lot on our minds so it’s understandable if we forget to water our plants, or worse, forget to turn the water off! Automatic timers are easily installed to grow lights, watering systems, fans, and heat mats, so we can rest assured we won’t forget something. 

Set them to the time you want certain things to turn on and off, test them a few times to ensure they’re in proper working order, and then go on about your days. 

Take Good Care of Your Body! 

When you have an intense, laborious day in the garden, remember to stretch before and after. Base your stretching around the types of movements you’ll be doing to avoid pain and speed up any recovery time. Yoga and strength training can complement your garden hobby to keep you limber, strong, and pain-free. 

Remember to drink lots of water when you’re outdoors working, especially in hot weather, and enjoy the fresh air.