Horticulture Hotline 03/16/20
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
For all the gym rats and exercise guru’s out there, I
contend that working in the yard is some of the best and most rewarding
exercise out there and you are not exposed to too many people. Yard work
requires many different muscle groups and when you are finished, you can see a
visual difference in your yard.
When you walk away from a swimming pool, stair climber,
tread mill, spin bike, elliptical machine, rack of weights, or road you just
walked or ran on, they look exactly the same as you found them unless you
didn’t wipe your sweat off... The good thing about working in the yard or
splitting firewood is you get that visual sense of accomplishment when you are
finished. I can spend an hour on a rowing machine or in a pool, and they look
the same when I’m finished as when I started.
Since a contractor doing work at my house decided he needed
my chain saw more than I did, I have been doing most off my pruning with a Wolf
Garten Hand Saw / Pole Saw Combination. Yesterday, I was pruning limbs away
from my house for air movement, to keep the limbs from rubbing on my paint, and
to keep the squirrels from climbing on my roof and trying to knawel their way
into my attic. Depending on where the limbs that I was removing were in
relation to my ladder, I was sawing with my right hand or left hand at all
different angles while balancing on the ladder. Good exercise!
Then, I’m dragging these cut limbs to the area where the
City picks them up and re-cutting the limbs that are too long. Next, pushing a
lawn mower, priming a well, lifting a 50-pound bag, spreading a preemergent,
lifting a 50-pound bag, spreading SeaHume, lifting a 50-pound bag, spreading
more SeaHume, dragging a hose to water in these products. Unload the Cotton
Burr Compost into a wheelbarrow (of course the tire is a little low on
pressure), push the wheelbarrow across the yard to the trees and shrubs, lift
the bags of Cotton Burr Compost and spread the “good stuff”. Then I rake down
the high piles and level off the organics.
Time to prepare a bed for a few hibiscus and summer annuals.
Digging and mixing in Flower Bed Amendment is always good exercise and the bed
will be ready when the threat of frost is over. A good time to get the
vegetable garden ready as well. Growing my own vegetables will ensure that I am
the only one touching the vegetables. Bending down weeding and harvesting
vegetables is good exercise also.
Next, I will re-establish my bed lines that define my beds
by digging out the edge. Lift bags of mulch into that same wheelbarrow with the
half flat tire to spread in areas that will not be affected by any late falling
leaves. Lift the bags of mulch again and spread the much over the bed. Smooth
out the much with a rake. Re-peat this series of exercise several times.
Then pump up the sprayer and do a little spot spraying of
weeds and put out some mosquito protection… Multiple muscles used, and I can
instantly see results in the yard and know there are more results to come.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
