Reach for a helping hand
A disability doesn't mean you have to give up gardening, here is a selection of the latest in useful tools.

Those who can work in the garden without a second thought are very lucky.  Most of us are caught out by aches and pains at some point in our lives, but spare a thought for gardeners with more permanent problems.  In Britain alone, ther are more than 10 million disabled people, and one in three over-55s have a disability of some sort.  Whether the difficult is temporary  or more permanent, there are ways and means to carry on gardening and here are some ideas:

Peta Easi-Grip

Firm grip: Peta Easi-Grip garden tools, around £10, have soft plastic non-slip pistol grip handles which keep the wrist in a neutral stress-free position.  Ideal for gardeners with reduced grip strewngth and/oir reduced wrist flexibility.  Alternatively, transform existing tools using the Peta Add-On handles (£15 for two) that strap to the handles (01376 573476; http://www.peta-uk.com/acatalog/Assistive_Garden_Tools.html).


Lightweight tools: modern manufacturing methods and materials bring innovative new gardening tools to the market each year.

Darlac bamboo-handled tools

Fiskars' range of lightweight reinforced plastic/fibreglass tools is called Inspirations, from £4.99 (0115 927 7335; fishkars.com).
Darlac has launched a great range of 15 bamboo-handled tools with carbon steel heads, lightweight but extremely durable from around £5 for hand tools (01753 547790; darlac.com).

Wilkinsons Sword Lite Alloy hoe

Wilkinsons Sword offers a range of Lite Alloy tools, from £10, including hand tools and a long handled hoe (0845 894 1599; wilkinsonswordtools.co.uk).

Posture perfect: Choosing tools that fit the user helps to prevent aches and pains.  The new Fiskars telescopic spade and fork, around £40 (from January 2013) allows you to adjust the handle length to suit your height.

Arms reach tools: it's all very well having long-handled tools, but often you need to be at plant level to carry out the rest of the task.  Try these devisces for more convenient handling:
The Darlac Multi Pick, around £14, is great for picking  up all sorts of things around the garden and has suction pads for better grip;

Darlac multipick

The Snapper from Darlac, from £30, holds and cuts stems while you work, enabling you to work one-handed from a distance.  Ideal for light pruncing, fruit picking and deadheading.

Yeoman Grabrake

The Yeoman Grabrake, around £20 in autumn promotions, is a new product designed to make light work of clearing leaves and debris and reduce stooping (01905 791984; yeomangarden.com).


Cushion the blow: Think about the most comfortable position to work in.  Burgon & Ball's latest range of Kneelo knee pads are excellent if you struggle to kneel on hard surfaces.  Insorporating memory foam technology, the ultra-soft layers cushion and protect your knees while kneeling on stony or hard ground. It comes in six colours £17 and there is also a Kneeler cushion (0114 233 8262; burgon and ball).

Low-effort pruning: when it comes to pruning, just having sharp secateurs can make all the difference.  Tired, blunt tools require more elbow grease and can risk user injury.  For simple pruning, choose lightweight tools.  Ratchet pruners or geared pruners reduce the impact on wrists and hands.  the Wilkinson Sword Geared  anvil loppers £40, have lightweight telescopic handles and geared pruning blades for easier pruning.

The Burgon and Ball ratchet pruner, £18, has a three-stage ratchet that is easy to operate and ideal for pruning.

Burgon and Ball ratchet pruner

The Handy ratchet lopper from Darlac, at £18, weighs around 500g but cuts up to 35mm stems with ease.
Look out for the new Fiskars Quantum bypass pruner that has a lovely geared action to reduce user input.

Raise the bar: move your garden closer to working height with the new range of Forest Garden Accessible gardening products (from spring 2013).  There's a trough and cold frame on legs that can also be used as a potting bench, pllus a raised corner planter, from £100. Forest Garden also offers as assembly service for around £60 (0844 2489801; forestgarden.co.uk).

The horticultural charity Thrive works to help people living with a disability or mental ill health to transform their lives through gardening (0118 988 5688; thrive.org.uk).

Today it's Sunday so I thought it would be a nice change to make a pudding.

Found some rhubarb in the freezer and also some raspberries.  This seemed like a good combination.  However, when thawed, the 'squashed raspberries' turned out to be 'beetroot soup', so that was a lucky escape!  

Then saw half a pineapple in the fridge and wondered if rhubarb and pineapple would make a good combination.  Somehow I wasn't too sure, so looked it up on the 'net.

Some sites advised against it, such as : http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/feb/24/foodanddrink.features112, whereas, other ones had recipes combining these ingredients, see: http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/stewed-rhubarb-with-pineapple-224744 and http://www.theimpatientchef.com/desserts/rhubarb-pineapple-crumble/.

I wonder if the advice not to combine rhubarb and pineapple more refers to advice which was given, see this interesting page: http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/rheum_x_hybridum.htm

Have decided to make two crumbles - one pineapple, one rhubarb, this saving any problems!

Crumble recipe:
4 oz sugar, 5 oz butter, 7 oz sr flour, some wheatgern and bran.  Serves 6.

Another idea is to make the excess raspberries, plus their juice, into a jelly using gelatine (vegetarian or otherwise) and a little icing sugar.

Also I love making what the children used to call PINK PUDDING - because of it's gorgeous colour.  It needs two bowls which is rather a fag but it's worth it to enjoy the putting; sooner rather than later as it doesn't keep.

1/2 lb raspberries
2 egg whites, whisked
2 oz sugar
4 fl oz double cream, whipped
1 carton natural yoghurt

Mix all the ingredients together, serves 4 - 6 people.

As you can imagine, with selling the house and passing on the allotment plot, I haven't done so much gardening this year.  But what I have noticed is a plague of large huge slugs, large snails - and bindweed!

Perhaps it's the  record-breaking spring (May and June were the wettest since records began) - and wet July or perhaps it's because it's so often damp conditions that we actually see them lounging around enjoying themselves.  No cartoon pics here of slugs and snails - as they are definitely not their friends!

The other plague this year has been bindweed (convulvulous) and the pity is that the slugs and snails shun the bindweed in favour of more delicate morsels, like lettuce and hostas.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=241

See: http://blog.riverford.co.uk/category/pennys-gardening-blog/

Bulb planting is satisfyingly creative, nothing happens for months and then suddenly these papery brown bulbs will turn into beautiful spring flowers. Here are 20 best bulbs for 2013:

Schilla mischtschenkoana AGM

1  Scilla mischtschenkoana AGM: not easy to spell and it doesn't look like ascilla either.  The bult forms mounds of starry grey-blue snowflakes that nudge through the bare earth with the snowdrops.


2  Scilla sibirica AGM: Cobalt-blue bells are held on darkish stems above bright green shiny leaves in March and April.  Tolerates shade well, but likes a bit of moisture.  It does self-seed, but not aggressively so.  Excellent with the acid-yellow Euphorbia polychroma, or with minature yellow narcissi.


3  Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis 'Tricolor' AGM: 'Tricolor' refers to the jaunty arrangement of egg-yolk yellow, white and lilac-blue.  It's willing to open wide, very early in theyear and can even pop up in snow.  There is no floppy neck in heavy weather either, as can be seen in theself-seeding C. tommasinianus.



4  Fritillaria imperialis 'William Rex': A burnished bronze-red with dusky shading to flower and stem, holding its bells tightly downwards with a goodtopknot of green foliage above.  Plant the enormous bulbs in fertile, moisture-retentive soil and try to get them a good 12" (30cm) deep.  Good on rish soil  Once planted, leave well alone.  If they likeyou, they'll live for ever.

5  Crocus 'Yalta': smaller version of 'Vanguard' has a bright orange stigma that forms a feather duster.  The bulbs proved irresistable to voles, so plant a little deeper.