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Lifting bags into wheelbarrow - is there an easier way?

karenktekarenkte Posts: 47
in Problem solving
Hello,
I recently bought 20 bags of organic green compost in bags.  I prefer the bags rather than a bulk bag as they are easier for me to store and I didn't want to have to use a spade to shovel from bag to wheel barrow.
The bags are great once they are emptied into the wheelbarrow.
The problem is that I am getting old and for me to lift even one bag from the ground to the wheelbarrow hurts my back.  I've just done 20 this morning and my bones are creaking.

I'm hoping someone here has the perfect solution for me.

Fingers crossed.  I can't see me managing to do this for many more years.
Thanks.
«13

Posts

  • BigladBiglad Posts: 3,265
    Delegation!

    Friends/family/neighbours? Whereabouts are you? I'd be happy to help if I lived close enough.
    East Lancs
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    Got the same problem. I have tended in the past to tip the barrow on to its front, position it behind the bag and then tip the barrow back on to the wheel, lifting the bag at the same time. Easier to demonstrate than to describe.
    Now I just use a bag trolley.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    You could use a large bread knife or similar to cut the bags in half before lifting. If you do that while they are still compacted from being stacked, there is less spillage to clean up.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited January 2021
    I got one of those in Ikea for a few quid. Can't remember price but definitely under a tenner. Not as sturdy but it does the job
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    We use a sacktruck as well - or rather, OH does, If I'm home alone occasionally, I have to open a bag, shovel half into a bucket, then carry the bucket to where I want it. There's no easy answer I'm afraid to old age creeping on.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    I inherited a shopping bag trolley from my Mum, as thought i was too young to need one I took off the bag and kept the wheel and frame.
    It's been a boon as now I am too old for lifting bags into a wheel barrow. It obviously only takes one bag at a time but I have used it with 100 litre bags of bark and large bags of compost. Best of all it folds down and I can keep it in my little garden shed rather than in the garage.
    Doing 20 bags at one time probably isn't wise. I tend to take a few each day and leave them in the areas I am going to use it on.
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    What always gets me is that at the Garden Centres they will put the bags into the car for you, but they get really annoyed if you kidnap the assistant to help you unload the car at home.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I suspect kidnapping is still a criminal offence, even at  garden centre.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    A four wheeled sack trolly? Some have a largish platform which is low, and then use the compost straight from the bag?
  • shane.farrellshane.farrell Posts: 207
    Could you stack them on a low table?
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