i just starting using a garden rocker seat that i really like. it's really light weight - adjustable height and reduces the strain on your lower back and knees.The curved base provides a full range of motion and lets you move comfortably in any direction while sitting or kneeling. Here's a link from the manufacturer..

Here is a link that might be useful: deluxe garden rocker seat

the rocker seat looks like it might be the answer. I liked the kneeler because of the handles to push up on. How is it getting up from the rocker?

This might help with some of the planting. For large seeds like beans and corn I take a 36" length of of 3/4 in dowel rod and poke a row of holes, then I take a 36" length of 3/4 pvc pipe, put the bottom in the hole and drop in the seed and go down the row. I wait until I have the whole row done before I cover them up to make sure I have a seed in each hole. Then I use my foot or a hoe to push a little dirt over the seed and tamp it down. Then I drop some mulch on top to confuse the birds.

You can use a similar method for bedding plants, just use larger diameter pipe.

I try not to ever kneel in the garden since I may never get up again! I have one of those turtle things with wheels but over soft ground it is just too hard to hitch along. I use it more inside for cleaning down low!

The dowelrod idea reminded me of how we planted bare root tomato & pepper plants when I was a child.

We had a truck farm with about thirty acres of pepper & tomatoes for cannery sales. We planted every last one of those by hand so we had to have a way to make it quick!

So we worked in pairs.

The first person carried the plants down the row and just dropped them in the correct spacing.

The second person had half of an old broomstick which had one end padded with cloth or leather to make a knob-like handle. He (usually she actually) placed the flat end of the stick on the tip of the root and pushed the plant into the soft ground. Then he stepped close to the plant on each side to pack the earth around the roots.

Voila! Plants efficiently planted without the aid of big machinery and No Stooping or Kneeling!!

I don't know who thought this up. Maybe it was just one of those things that was handed down through the generations.

Seems to me that it would be adaptable for anyone who cannot bend and is planting bare root plants. Just make sure the ground is very soft so the plant goes in without damaging the roots.

Take care,
Celia

I love the ideas listed, Thank you. I don't have an artificial hip but mine do pop in and out all the time, mostly when I step up or down like stairs. I like to use the five gallon buckets to set on. The lids can be padded yet they are light enough to move or scoot with your foot. Using light weight long handled tools also help alot. Happy gardening.

Oh Boy!
I am scheduled for one hip replacement this October and then having the other one replaced later!
Does this mean my gardening days are over?
What about garden tractor use? Is anyone utilizing a tracor that has undergon a hip replacement? How much is my gardening life going to change?
Steamheater