Sunday, September 27, 2009

Golden Years Gardening

     As we age, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weaker...when it comes to gardening. 

     Our enjoyment of growing fruit, flowers and vegetables seems to increase as the years fly by. Maybe it's because we've come to better appreciate how nature works; maybe it's because we enjoy doing things closer to home; or, maybe it's because plants don't talk back. 

     Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain: we don't bend down into a flower bed, lift bags of fertilizer and pull weeds as easily as we used to. As a result, we know that a few hours working briskly in the yard may result in an evening of moving slower.
    Here are some tips for implementing an easy-care garden for the Golden Years, advice that can be summed up in three words: automate, elevate and eliminate.

Automate. Provide your garden with an automatic watering system. The efficiency of an automated sprinkler or drip irrigation system protects your plants from the summertime heat when you're away from home. And, a good drip system reduces water usage, unwanted weed growth and plant diseases. Install low-voltage night lighting, equipped with sensors, to automatically come on at sunset throughout the yard.

Elevate. Build raised planters for your flowering plants and vegetables. Not only do raised beds reduce the amount of stooping and kneeling that are a necessary part of gardening, raised beds provide better drainage for plants that don't like "wet feet". Built of wood, concrete or brick, a raised bed, 18-24 inches high, gives you a place to sit while weeding, pruning or harvesting. Make the raised beds any length you desire; but keep the width less than four feet across for ease of reaching into the middle of the bed. And lining the bottom of these beds with quarter-inch mesh hardware cloth will keep gophers from sampling the fruits of your labor.

Eliminate. Why waste time fretting over a habitually under performing perennial, shrub or tree? If it is growing awkwardly or is consistently pest infested despite your best efforts, bring out the chipper/shredder. Dig it out, chop it up and get another plant that will do better. Better yet, have someone else do the digging and chopping. 

Although the attempt to totally eradicate weeds is an exercise in futility, adding three or four inches of mulch, such as a walk-on bark, can dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend pulling weeds.


  1. One sign of advancing age--eagerly clicking on article titles like this! Thanks for the sound advice.

  2. if you enjoy the work of gardening and are motivated to improve things, then even the middle-aged and oldsters can accomplish a lot...its all about attitude and your frame of mind - if you feel like your life is winding down, thats how you will act and feel...