'What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it'
Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden

With spring fast approaching we are all thinking about great days ahead in the garden, but beware, you may not be as safe on your little patch of green as you think.

According to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) A man with a mower is likely to be the most dangerous thing in UK gardens, and in 2004 they published their top ten of most dangerous garden items:

1. Lawmowers (6,500)
2. Flower Pots (5,300)
3. Secateurs and pruners (4,400)
4. Spades (3,500)
5. Electric hedge trimmers (3,100)
6. Plant tubs and troughs (2,800)
7. Shears (2,100)
8. Garden forks (2,000)
9. Hoses and sprinklers (1,900)
10. Garden Canes (1,800)

Apparently men have more accidents than women (make of that what you will!) and people aged 30-60 are more likely to come a cropper.

I must just add at this point that the accidents involving plant containers stem from people tripping over them or strains caused when lifting and not because there are lots of psycho pots out there!

'One of the most pleasing sounds of Springtime, to be heard all over the country, is the contented cooing of osteopaths as Man picks up his garden spade'
Oliver Pritchett