The wait is over: We’re watching spring unfold each day, and it is wonderful. Almost overnight the lawn turns green; buds swell, aching to burst open. Enjoy the sights, sounds and even the chores — the outdoor growing season always comes and goes quickly.
GARDEN FITNESS
Gardening is not only good for your mind and soul, it’s good for your body too. On average, gardening burns 200 to 300 calories per hour outdoors. If you’re digging or doing heavy raking for an hour, you’ll burn 500 or more calories. Here are some tips to master the marathon that is spring, summer and fall.
• Don’t start out with marathon hours in the garden only to wake up with a sore back, muscles and a sunburn. Warm up your body first, stretch, then work for short segments with breaks in between. If you’re bad about taking breaks, set a timer. Stretch again at the end of your garden time.
• For your first outdoor sessions, work for an hour to 90 minutes, then stop for the day, especially if you’re not in ski condition or fit enough to enter the next weekend 10K run.
• To warm up, walk around your yard or up and down the block for 5 to 10 minutes. This increases blood flow to your body so that stretching is much easier on your muscles and joints. (If you have dogs who like to “help” you garden, walk with them to warm up — they’ll be more likely to leave you to your business.) While stretching, breathe normally. Don’t move quickly or jerk; just stretch until you feel slight resistance and no pain.
• Do some simple stretches, starting with the large muscle groups first. Extend your arms straight up and reach and hold for 10 seconds. Then move your arms out to each side and move them up and down like a jumping jack without the jump. Rotate your wrists while moving your arms.
• Bend forward at the waist and let your arms hang down toward your toes. As you straighten up, roll your shoulders back and around a couple of times.
• Sit on a chair, then stand up using just your legs. This will strengthen your thigh muscles and help with balance.
• Try not to hunch when squatting or kneeling. Keep your back straight. Move your whole body as you weed, rather than reaching out from a single position.
• When lifting, bend from your knees, not your back or waist. Let your stronger thigh muscles do the work. Move close to the object you’re moving and keep your eyes on it. Maintain a wide stance for more stability and strength.
• Never twist and lift at the same time. When shoveling, dig, lift the shovel and then move your feet and shovel at the same time to dump the soil in another spot.
• Use a knee pad or kneeler with handles when kneeling or placing pressure on your knees. Tractor-type scooters can be knee and back savers.
• Garden tools have become more ergonomic. Look for trowels, shovels and hoes with comfortable handles that fit your grip. Change hands often.
• Carrying a water bottle in the garden; drink some during each hourly break. Wear sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat to save your eyes and skin.
• Get a tetanus shot every 10 years.
IN THE LANDSCAPE
• Consider having a soil test done, especially if it’s been several years. You may not need the amendments you think you do. A soil test measures pH, texture estimate, fertility levels, amount of organic matter and salt levels. It also measures the texture of your soil, which tells you whether air can get to plant roots and whether the soil is good or bad at holding water. Go to soiltestinglab.colostate.edu/ for instructions on taking a soil sample and costs to have the test done.
• Clean up the garden by cutting back spent foliage on perennials. Cut down to where new growth is just beginning. Dig and pitch last year’s annuals, vegetables or container plantings. You can toss in the compost pile if they were disease-free.
• Rake remaining leaves and any unsightly debris, but be careful not to damage new growth on plants or bulbs. Pull or dig weeds as you go.
• If you’re not a DIY sprinkler-setter, schedule your sprinkler turn-on for late April and core lawn aeration for anytime in April or May.
VEGETABLES
• Get a jump on your planting season by warming up your beds with 4 to 6-mil clear or black plastic. It’s sold in roll from garden centers or hardware stores. Anchor the plastic with boards, brick or soil. Leave it in place for a couple of weeks.
• When soil temperatures are 40 degrees or warmer, it’s safe to including broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, peas, lettuce, onions, radish, spinach, and turnips. More: www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/720.html
GARDEN LINGO
“Hardening off” is an often-used phrase during the transition to warm weather. It refers to the process of gradually adjusting any plant (vegetable, fruit, ornamental) that has been growing indoors at a garden center, greenhouse or your house to outdoor conditions. In Colorado, those conditions are pretty extreme: Fierce sunlight, wind and wide temperature fluctuations.
To harden off a plant, set it out in the shade for a few hours each day. Gradually increase the light and hours outside for 5 to 7 days, bringing these close to what the plant will experience in its final location. (If it’s a shade plant, this means there’s no need to put it in full sun.)
Right now, what needs hardening are those cool-season veggie transplants or any annuals such as pansies, but it remains important when it’s time to buy or transplant warm-season flowers and vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes in May or early June. When you buy, remember to ask whether the plants are hardened off.
Punch List by Betty Cahill
