Can’t kneel or bend over like you used to? These 19 products make gardening easier and more comfortable

"The Vevor Garden Cart Rolling Work Seat is a fantastic tool for anyone experiencing limited mobility or seeking enhanced back and knee support," says Ashlie Thomas, author of “How to Become a Gardener.” She shares that it's also beneficial for anyone who likes to spend a lot of time in their garden but wants to avoid aches or exhaustion from standing too long. "I use this product the most in the warmer months when I’m working in the garden for longer stretches of time," she says. The multipurpose cart allows you to move easily through the garden and cuts down on how much you have to be on your feet. "Using this to tend to those lower garden beds and patches can greatly reduce the strain on your back and legs," Thomas says, noting that she likes how the seat swivels for easier movement and has a place to store your tools.

Using a kneeler cushion is a wonderful way to support and protect your knees. Angela Ferraro-Fanning, author of “The Sustainable Homestead: Create a Thriving Permaculture Ecosystem With Your Garden, Animals and Land,” relies on a kneeler for any gardening work that requires getting down on the ground, as bad knees run in her family. "I'm only in my 40s and have a lot of discomfort already from 30 years of technical dancing and a decade of farming," she says. "I prefer to kneel in the garden to have better contact with the soil and plants, though, rather than use a stool or chair." A soft cushion can make gardening tasks easier on the body and “add some support while allowing me to closely interact with my garden," she says.

Whether you have lots of roses, hydrangeas and fruit trees or you need to trim dead stems, pruning is a necessary garden task. But unfortunately, the repetitive motion can take a toll on your hands and joints. "I really enjoy using Fiskars’ PowerGear Ratcheting Bypass Pruners to save my hands from pain and fatigue," says Stephanie Rose, gardening expert and award-winning author of "The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-Sustaining Garden Ecosystem.”

Thomas recommends electric pruning shears for anyone who wants to make gardening even easier on their joints. "They are lightweight, require less physical exertion than manual pruners and are great for maintaining ease in trimming and shaping thick-stemmed plants in the garden," she says. "This is an important factor for those who might find the repetitive motion of manual pruning a bit too strenuous on the hands and arms."

A stepladder is a convenient and helpful tool to use in the home garden to prune high-up branches, pick fruit or even reach the top of a trellis or garden fence. "Whether I'm pruning a taller shrub or harvesting fruit from my trees, this ladder provides me extra height in a safe and sturdy way, ensuring that I don't overreach and fall," Thomas says. "The broad, anti-slip steps are an added benefit, as they provide more secure footing as I climb — especially when things get wet and slippery from watering plants in the garden." Thomas recommends this ladder for everyone, though she adds that it's especially helpful for those "with limited mobility who still [want] to enjoy the full range of gardening activities in a safe and more manageable way."

One big aspect of gardening is digging holes to sow seeds, to plant bulbs or for transplants — and it can be tiring on the body. If you maintain a garden or landscape year-round and plant for each season, you may want to consider a tool to make the job easier. Ferraro-Fanning uses a bulb-planting drill bit to minimize the time she spends digging holes. "This reduces effort and labor on my part while getting the job done quickly [and] avoiding overfatigued arm and back muscles," she says.

Lifting heavy bags of potting soil or bulky gardening tools can cause unnecessary strain on the back, legs and arms. Octogenarian and National Garden Bureau member Duane Pancoast uses a garden cart to transport items — including bags of mulch and fertilizer —?from one area of the garden to the other. "It’s not recommended that any gardener carry heavy items," he says.

Gardening in the morning or late evening when the temperature is cooler is ideal in the hotter months, but it may not always be feasible. "During this extreme heat, I try to work earlier in the day and avoid the high afternoon sun," Ferraro-Fanning says, "but checking on the animals and harvesting in the afternoon is sometimes unavoidable." That’s why she uses a hands-free portable neck fan to keep cool. This one from Gulaki is the best neck fan we’ve tested. It’s ergonomic, lightweight and quiet, and it has a generous five-hour battery life.

If you have a small lawn (whether in the front, on the side or in the back of your house) that hugs to borders and planters, you may have grass that's hard to reach. "After mowing the lawn, I like to trim the grass around the flower borders to make them look tidier," says Susan Mulvihill, organic gardener and author of “The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook” and “The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.” Weedwackers are often heavy, difficult to hold and maneuver and can take a toll on your back and arms, so Mulvihill prefers a lighter, cordless one. "A gas-powered Weedwacker is much too heavy for me, whereas a battery-powered version makes the job much easier while being a lot quieter as well," she says.

Gardening requires being outside a lot, often in areas that don't have any shade. That's why wearing a sun hat is important to protect your face and skin from the elements. "Sun protection is absolutely critical for gardeners or anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors," Mulvihill says. "I wear a hat every time I head outside." She opts for a broad-brimmed sun hat for protection and some shade.

Wearing gloves to protect your hands from cuts and scrapes is just as important as wearing gardening shoes to protect your feet. Ferraro-Fanning is a fan of goatskin leather gloves for avoiding injuries while working in the garden. "I've scraped my hands on cattle panel trellises, bamboo stakes and sharp weeds and grasses so many times," she says. As a homesteader and gardener, she says her hands have become rough and calloused over the years. "I'm unable to scrub the dirt from my hands as easily as I used to." Now Ferraro-Fanning always uses gardening gloves, and they've been a game changer. "They're more resilient than a typical garden glove and age well, giving them a flexible and soft finish on the inside while still tough on the exterior."

Choosing gardening tools that are adequate for the job is key to reducing strain or injury. Thomas likes these long-handled tools. "They allow me to keep up with my garden tasks without the typical strain on my back and knees," she says. "The extended handles on these tools allow me to dig, plant and weed while standing upright, which is sometimes preferred when I’m working through one of my large garden beds or tackling areas that are usually hard to reach."

A typical day in the garden usually involves hauling around heavy items, whether bags of compost, multiple tools or a container full of weeds you've just pulled. Rose uses a garden or utility sled for heavy items because she doesn't have to lift the items as high. When deciding on what garden sled is best for you, she has a tip: "Look for a sled that has a depressed area that reaches ground level so you can simply slide heavy pots or rocks onto it and then drag them."

Growing food, flowers or vegetables in a raised garden bed increases the height so you don't have to bend or crouch as much. "Simply raising up the height of the bed means the gardening tasks are easier and there’s less strain on your back," Rose says. She uses modular planters for an “instant” raised garden. "They can be combined and stacked to create raised beds," she says. You can minimize the time you spend watering your plants too, because they hold enough water for up to six weeks, she explains.

Here's another expert-recommended raised garden bed that's ideal for those with limited mobility. "I love the longevity and ease of setup for metal raised beds, but the modern look of these suits my aesthetic sensibilities more than the stock tank look," Rose says.

Mulvihill likes to use Tubtrugs plastic containers, which have bendable handles and come in various sizes, ranging from 3 gallons to 11 gallons. It's easy to carry whatever you need while gardening in these plastic tubs rather than juggling everything in your hands. "They are sturdy yet lightweight and ideal for carrying a manageable amount of potting soil, placing pulled weeds or for garden harvests," Mulvihill says.

If you have tall trees or shrubs that produce fruit, it can be difficult (and quite uncomfortable) to reach high enough to pick them. Using a tool designed for picking fruit can make a world of difference on your body and save time too. "For taller harvests, such as from fruiting trees, I prefer to use an adjustable fruit-picking tool," Ferraro-Fanning says. "The adjustable pole comes equipped with a basket large enough to harvest apples and with tines that help to grab smaller fruit like cherries." With this tool, you don't have to climb up a ladder or stretch and twist your body to harvest fruit, she says.

Whether you're sowing seeds, planting or weeding, many gardening tasks can be done seated or kneeling. "When you have to do a lot of gardening, a lightweight but sturdy garden seat and kneeler will take the pressure off of your back, neck and shoulders and reduce risk from injury," Rose says. This is a 2-in-1 product with a garden bench and kneeling pad so you can change positions based on your needs while gardening. "When it’s in the kneeler position, I use the sturdy handles to both lower myself onto it and push myself back up to a standing position; this reduces hip strain," Mulvihill says. "If I flip it over into the bench position, it’s ideal for doing time-consuming tasks such as deadheading flowers or picking berries — I don’t have to bend over for extended periods of time."

Watering your plants is essential;?there’s simply no getting around it if you want to keep them alive. Watering with a hose can be tiring, especially if you use a nozzle for a specific setting. "Spray nozzles that require a gardener to apply a continuous grip are very fatiguing to the hand and challenging for those with a weak grip [or] arthritic hands," Mulvihill says. This is why she's a fan of a spray nozzle with a thumb control. "Dramm’s One-Touch Revolution Spray Gun eliminates this issue by offering an easy thumb control to turn on the spray and nine different spray patterns for a variety of watering tasks," she adds.