Monday, March 12, 2012

Seeding bedding plants with a torn Rotator Cuff, out of place shoulder blade and a back rebelling because of it all.

It sounded like a really small project. Get out a couple of Lee Valley deep seed trays, fill with bedding plant mix and fill with pepper and tomato seeds. Then I got out some Marigold Nursery potting soil, coir, fine bark mulch and a shovel of coffee grounds to repot my Cymbidium orchid that I saved when it survived some pretty harsh frost last fall. Anything that tough deserves to live. It had split its plastic pot right down to the drainage holes. I don't have a potting bench so I did everything on the garden in the greenhouse. Even though it hasn't been sealed I moved all the stuff in the way of the seed area to the shed. I plugged in the heating mat for the seed trays. I was meticulous with my seeding. They are my first bedding plants. So...how often do you need to water them? I did not see that very basic info in any of my books. So, then I took my wonderful pitch fork and forked a bag of compost and a bag of manure into the 12x3' raised bed in the greenhouse. Sprinkled Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch and Mâché seed in the bed. I then sprinkled some of the potting soil over it and watered. Then I sprinkled Ecosense slug bait around the bed and bench in the greenhouse and some in the gardens that have been stripped of all vegetation by the slugs. I packed up my toys and started loading garbage and stuff into the house. My coat, seeds, empty bags, etc etc. it suddenly hit me how much my back and arm hurt. Last week I went to my chiropractor who told me I probably have a torn Rotator Cuff and I've jammed my shoulder blade out of position and to the left. This happened when I fell in Hawaii. I have a high pain tolerance so it hasn't bothered me very much. But today...I feel it. So I'm sitting in the ugly chair, watching Y&R and, well, telling you all about it.

*update. It wasn't a torn rotator cuff after all. After months of it getting steadily worse, I booked a massage at the urging of my chiropractor. Thank you to Britta at Phi Massage in Sidney, for fixing it!! Two massages and I'm just about perfect.

5 comments:

Joan said...

Oh no! Not nice that it starts hurting when you are gardening - especially at the begining of the season! Baby it now so it will hopefully improve before you really need to dig in for the season. Take care.

Jane and Chris said...

OUCH!! Nothing to do but let it mend...I'm so bored today I've watched Midsomer Murders on TVO website.
Jane x

Gardeningbren said...

okay...a little bit of advice from your eastcoasty friend...down the advil, keep working but gently and carefully (don't let muscles or joint seize up), take time to heal, get an xray and see an Osteo. I spent the last year and a half healing from a frozen shoulder and want to say, you don't want to be where I was. Please be well.

Erin said...

Thanks guys. I am going to pick up a bottle of flammaforce in the morning. It's my fave for this sort of thing. It is wonderful to have so much done today. I am thrilled. My first ever bedding plants. Yayyy.

Clint Baker said...

I know how you feel back on No. 7th, I had shoulder surgery on my left shoulder. When they did the MRI, they said it looked like that of a major league baseball player. It happened two months prior to surgery and I wen through the shots and P.T. to try keep out of the surgery! It didn't help me, and it has been a slow recovery, but praise God, I go back to work on the 26th, take it from a person that has been there. Do everything you can to get it healed before you have surgery and only have surgery if the pain is intense. The recovery is the worst part and I am still only about 90%. I pray God takes the pain from you and heals it. Its NO fun, I will tell you and you don't realize how complex that joint is and how much you use it til you hurt it. God Bless!