using a azada with dodgy wrists

[Becca]

Hello,

I've not chopped down all the brambles and nettles on my neglected plot and am trying to work out how best to get it dug over. I brief try with a fork was very hard going so i'm pondering getting an azada or a mattock as these seem to be recommended in various places for this kind of job but i'm a bit worried about the strain on my arms as I've suffered from tendon problems in the past in my wrists and elbow which have never entirely left me. I was thinking of a lightweight or light medium azada from this company http://www.get-digging.co.uk/tools.htm but wondered if there was anyone out there who would know whether a) the lighter tool would be up to the job and b) given my previous problems I should touch these tools with a barge pole?

many thanks in advance,

Becca

[Seahorse]

I've got intermittent difficulties with my wirsts and hands. I tried an 'ordinary' mattock in B&Q and could barely lift it I've had a look at the site you linked to before but even those seem quite heavy. In weight terms, the lighter ones are about the equivalent of two cans of beans strapped to a pole. Certainly something I could use but I suspect not for long without discomfort.

I'm sure other people have more useful info though!

Claire

[Becca]

yes, put like that it doesn't seem very good for me even if i wear my metal lined supports. I've contacted the company to see what their returns policy is as i won't really know about it until i've actually felt the weight of them and had a bit of a go. As a fellow sufferer have you any other suggestions? for nomal digging i usually use a border fork or spade in short bursts with lots of teabreaks but i don't think that is going to cut it with the mat of nettle roots..

[HeyWayne]

I bought my azada from the guys at Get Digging, and I don't use a fork at all now. I use a long handled spade (also from Get Digging) to lift the edges, and then use the azada to break it up. I do notice my forearms ache a bit after digging a bed over, so I guess wrists take a bit of punishment. Mine is the medium one which I don't find too difficult to use.

Have you thought about using a long handled fork? With my spade I find it easier to turn earth over as I use the length of the handle for extra leverage - meaning less stress on my back (my trouble area), and no real work for the forearms. Might be the same for you with a long handled fork - which they also sell.

[shirlthegirl43]

I have chronic fatigue syndrome and suffer from pain in my arms and wrists too. I find the best way through the digging is just to do a little at a time with the frequent breaks. You just need to take a different mental approach to your achievements or you end up disheartened. Every short row I manage to clear of bramble and nettle roots and return to cultivation is a major achievement and I reward myself by planting (or at this time of year covering it with weed fabric) stuff as soon as there is a big enough bit.

Take it gently and you will get there eventually. Good luck and don't do yourself a damage by being too enthusiastic!

[Madasafish]

I'd hire a petrol driven tiller. Digging up bramble or nettle roots by hand is hard work for the fit. I suspect you may do yourself serious injury and be unable to finish it.

Far better to hire a powered tool and clear up manually afterwards.

But then I'm still fit .. but basically lazy:-)

[Becca]

Hello again, a long handled fork might be worth a try too, if company is quite happy to take returns of unused tools without too much stress i might order a couple of different things so i can feel the weight and have a play (without getting them dirty, it would probably be too much to ask that they take back used tools). I have hypermobile joint syndrome and have learnt through painful experience that that if i throw myself too hard into something i end up crippled for days or weeks (or if i'm very unlucky/stupid months) so i have to take everything piecemeal and with alot of teabreaks (going to get a little gas burner to take to the lottie so i'm not dependant on a thermos) and i get there eventually.. :0)

[Becca]

would a petrol driven tiller not chop up the roots too much? or is it different from the rotavator? I'm happy to go for the powertool option (tho anything heavy i'll have to bribe the boyfriend to use, i know i can dig little and often, but i can't wield machinery for long) if it's as good as the hand option, i heard that rotavators would break up the roots and i'd create a ton of weeding for myself forever?

[Seahorse]

Hope you find something that suits you Becca.

Like Shirl says, 'little and often' usually works for me but I also know that when you've got LOADS to clear, that can be kind of dispiriting.

It's not quite the same but a great tip I got off here re digging was to raise the spade up high and let the weight of it do the 'chopping' part of the dig. Might work similarly with an azada? Then again that might be the bit that's worst for you

I'm also considering hiring something like the tiller Madasafish mentions or a rotavator or similar. I know it would be likely to increase future weeding many fold but my plot is almost 500 sq metres and I just can't see that being a practical amount of space for me to dig by hand (or not in a reasonable time scale anyway!)

Claire

[Matt.]

A tiller or rotovator are the same thing I think? Maybe a rotovator is the bigger type of device that has driven wheels? I'd be concerned about using one of these for digging up bramble roots. These things are heavy, can be quite awkward to use and can lurch. There is a knack to using them and I'd be concerned how unpredicable they would be when striking thick roots?

In terms of weeds you'll only get more if you have them there to start with. It could well be that the brambles have prevented them in which case you'll be fine! I'd dig around a bit first to see if you have evidence of the worst type - long thin smooth white roots is bindwind, long very thin white roots with nodules is couch grass and long black twig like roots is horsetail. You'll know if you have them because they'll be everywhere.

[oldie]

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis which affects my hands and wrists badly. I bought a medium azada earlier this year and have been happy with it. Easier than spade or fork, but little and often is still best. I also shortened the handle by about a foot and found that easier.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hello and welcome to the vine oldie - looking forward to hearing more about what you grow.

[Becca]

My plot hasn't been properly cultivated for about a decade and was mostly over run by brambles, some very large which will need digging out, the patches not totalled brambled were covered with nettles, this has all been chopped down with a brushcutter last weekend and i'm gradually clearing the debris at the moment ( will be when i'm off my sick bed ) i've tried forking over a nettly patch so i could site my compost bin and it was hard going, tho i think the more i loosen the soil the easier it will be as they mostly seem to form a mat just below the surface, i've been trying to pull up the nettles wherever possible as they seem to usually pull up with a bit of root attached, i haven;t tried attaching any of the brambles as yet..:O/ I imagine a rotavator/tiller might have trouble with the biggest ones, and with the 'earthworks' running across the plot, apparently formed by a previous owner piling her stones on either side of her beds..

[Becca]

doh, attacking brambles not attaching brambles.. they attach themselves quite happily without my help

[Sue]

Becca
I've got an azada and use it a lot, but can imagine with joint problems it would still cause you trouble.
Could you not get someone to strim everything down, have a major bonfire and then cover the plot with cardboard to kill the weeds that way.
Having discovered this method I've mostly given up on digging altogether. Much easy to put down loads of cardboard for a year and cover it in compost. I did this three times and by the end of the year had a lovely patch of ground. Still got the bindweed but it's not as macho as it once was and I will go on pulling it up until it gives up.
Sue