LADYBUG SAYS ... GARDENERS CAN PREVENT ACHES WITH CORRECT TOOLS

Tennis players have their elbow, but gardeners have it all. Aching backs, stiff necks, sore ribs and battered hands are some of their complaints. Some can be prevented by using the correct tools.

If you wish to cultivate your green thumb, do things the easy way, and get yourself a few really good basic tools. Learn spades from scuffle hoes and dig deep to buy the best.

One would not think of pounding a nail with something other than a hammer or drive a screw with a pocket knife, but that is exactly what happens to some gardeners when they try to dig a flower bed or plant a shrub with the wrong implement or a poorly made one.

Garden tools have remained pretty much unchanged over the years as mankind has advanced through the age of metals, machines and technologies. However, they have become greatly improved.

There have been some ingenious and labor saving implements developed in our present day gardening supply market. Handles with interchangeable tools offer the conveniences of several implements without filling up the entire garden shed or garage wall with many different assorted tools.

Tools with metal or fiberglass handles offer a more durable material than wood and these cannot be bent too far out of shape. A good metal trowel has been with me for 43 years of gardening.

New and beautiful gardener's catalogs are on the market and they are filled with luxurious items including the best English forged cultivating tools, a great selection of plant supports, English watering cans, accelerator composters, special compost tools, window hayracks (planters), flower presses, pH tester kits, and many other items.

Here are some basic tools that we have found to be of great use:

Gloves are a must. One may invest in the most popular Green thumbs, but my own gardening is done with tight fitting rubber gloves, the surgical type, which only last one tour of heavy gardening. Some gardeners like light weight cloth ones for weeding, but heavy duty ones are needed for lifting heavy dirt and other man-sized jobs.

Using a wheelbarrow beats carrying heavy items, but even better for the back and for work is the two-wheeled cart. Personally, for me, a child's little red wagon is ideal for toting materials to mix into the soil when planting, and carrying, when transplanting large plants.

Long handled tools spare unnecessary bending. Remember raking, hoeing, shoveling are good aerobic exercises, with the added benefits of stretching unused body muscles.

Padded kneelers are great for getting up and down, and help to protect the lower back. A waterproof cushion is one of the gardener's best friends and one which one can make easily, according to instructions in a garden magazine--It can be an old pillow wrapped in a polyethylene sack, or it can be fancy like a plastic-coated car cushion. Both of these are great for weeding or close cultivating.

A small basket is great for carrying tools. My favorite is a decorated half gallon can which supplied cookies in the rooms of the P.E.O. 1976 Convention guests here in Cape Girardeau.

A good spade is a must. It can be a spade or a long-handle shovel to dig holes to plant and transplant larger plants. (My favorite is a ladies shovel which belonged to my mother many, many years ago.)

A spading fork for turning over and loosening the soil.

A rake for smoothing soil that has been dug, raking leaves and tidying up messes in the garden.

A hoe for cultivating and weeding. (There are several hoes in our collection, many of varying widths, narrow and wider than our conventional ones. They belonged to the gardeners in our families who left us not only the hoes, but the genes for the love of gardening.)

Good pruners are a must. They should be good quality and should fit your hand and grip. Do you know there is a complete catalog on pruning equipment? Personally, I favor a pair of kitchen shears, the gift of a friend several years ago. They will not only cut up a chicken, cut my hair, but also will trim around edges in the garden and cut flowers. They are better than any other trimmers.

One must also have a good watering can. We favor those plastic ones with the sprinkler spout, which is excellent for watering a fine mist on seeds when first planted into the garden. However, if you wish to go all out and get the Cadillac in watering cans, the English traditional and long reach watering can, which is all copper, can be had for $129, or the brass trimmed upright cans for $55.95.

This is the time to be watching for good sales on watering hoses. For easy handling and close-in watering, I like a light weight mesh that winds on a cassette.

Gardening with conventional tools is often tedious or impossible for the elderly or people with disabilities. There is a trowel with an offset and bent handle, especially designed for people with weak grips available on the market and in catalogs.

Proper gardening tools make all gardening chores easier, more enjoyable and more productable.