Gardening News and Miscellany

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Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog, answers questions about how professional or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Check out her new product – great for winter time – called Clear the Blear. Here’s this month’s installment:

When pruning apple and other trees in January, I often tire my shoulders using the pole pruners or sawing/ pruning above my head. Have you got any tips for easing shoulder pain while pruning trees?

Hi Gen,

The first thing that comes to mind is that you probably are not “in tune” with your shoulder blades, those flat triangular shaped bones located on your upper back.  Those bones are there for a reason.  When you don’t involve them in the work you do, your arms must provide all the power for the pruning.  This takes a LOT of muscle, and after a while they get so tired and sore they go on strike!  And you can feel that.

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Rosy Resolutions for the New Year

by Genevieve on January 8, 2010

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I’m honored and pleased to be able to share with you the writing of my favorite garden humorist, Dr Leda Horticulture.

Regan Nursery, the finest place to buy bare root roses online, and a gorgeous full-service garden center serving the San Francisco Bay Area, has given us permission to reprint Dr Leda’s articles from their rose nursery newsletter. If you have never read her writing, you are in for a treat!

Dr Leda Horticulture’s Ten Rosy Resolutions for the New Year

1. My internal clock tends to run fast (which explains why I’m writing New Year’s Resolutions in November). Every winter, I grow restless and try to jump-start spring. Inevitably, I develop a violent and irresistible urge to prune roses on New Year’s Day, but the recommended date here in Louisiana isn’t until mid-February (and the recommended pruning date wherever you live is whenever your forsythia comes into bloom). Last year I jumped the gun, and a disastrous late freeze turned all my tender new growth into slimy black mush. The protective foliar cuticles ruptured, leaving even resistant roses vulnerable to disease. This year I will be patient and NOT prune too early. Better a tardy spring flush than sick whiny roses.

2. One day towards the end of pruning season last year, I was browsing in a book store when I noticed a stranger staring at me intently. He was holding a book titled Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain. The skin on my arms was crisscrossed with the jagged scratches and slashes that only a vicious ‘Mermaid’ can deliver. “Oh, ha-ha!” I said cheerily. “It’s not what you think.” The man just shook his head morbidly and turned away. This year I am actually going to wear my gloves when I prune. Sturdy opera length gloves, with thick leather palms and canvas gauntlets. Maybe even a welding mask.

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Your Gardening Body: How to Scoop Mulch and Use a Wheelbarrow Without Strain or Pain

December 31, 2009
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Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog, has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Check out her new product – great for winter time – called Clear the Blear. Here’s this month’s installment:
Dear Anne,
In winter, [...]

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Your Gardening Body: How to Rake and Sweep Without Strain or Pain

November 15, 2009
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Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog,  has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Here’s this month’s installment:
Dear Anne,
By November, fall leaves are piling up around perennials and shrubs. I like to rake up my [...]

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Your Gardening Body: Digging Without Strain or Pain

October 14, 2009
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Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog,  has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Here’s this month’s installment:
Dear Anne,
Fall is a great time to plant shrubs and trees, because plants can get their roots established [...]

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Worthy of a Re-Read: Seven Favorite Articles From Around The Web

September 7, 2009
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(Photo inspired by Luke of Callus and Chlorophyll, below!)
Daffodil Planter, one of the funniest new writers on the garden blogging scene, tagged me to write a list of seven things about myself. Not wanting to hog the spotlight, I instead decided to shine the light on seven of the gardening articles I have read and [...]

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Your Gardening Body: Using Loppers Safely Without Pain or Strain

August 28, 2009
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Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog,  has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Here’s the first one:
Dear Anne,
By September, many trees and shrubs have grown out of bounds and finished blooming, so I find [...]

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Plants VS Zombies: An Addictive Gardening Video Game

August 22, 2009
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I think of video games as mostly time-wasters and try to avoid them, but every so often one comes along that is so extremely fun that it’s hard to resist. Plants VS Zombies hits two of my favorite things – the ridiculous charm and kitsch of zombies combined with the over-the-top sunniness of plants.
You start [...]

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Dr Leda Horticulture: Dr. Leda and the Rose Snobs

August 9, 2009
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I’m honored and pleased to be able to share with you the writing of my favorite garden humorist, Dr Leda Horticulture.
Regan Nursery, the finest place to buy bare root roses online, and a gorgeous full-service garden center serving the San Francisco Bay Area, has given us permission to reprint Dr Leda’s articles from their [...]

Click here to continue reading →

For All You Pros: How to Lift a Wheelbarrow Into Your Truck Even if You’re a Wimpy Girl Like Me (An Article in Pictures)

June 17, 2009
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Since we’ve been discussing mulching, I thought this tip might be helpful for those of you who are mulching for other people, like me!
I don’t know about ya’ll, but for a long time there, I was risking life and limb getting my dratted wheelbarrow up into my truck to take to clients’ homes on days [...]

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