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Post by daylilydude on Jan 26, 2018 5:42:39 GMT -5
As we get older... our ability to garden changes with our bodies How do you alter your expectations of your garden and how does the way you garden change over the years? Is it insane to start a slew of new beds if you hardly have the energy to keep up with what you already have?
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Post by ahntjudy on Jan 26, 2018 8:37:50 GMT -5
61 going on 21 here... I'm just a little more careful and aware of my movements out there... Saving my back by continuing to 'lift' with my legs...no more hard kneeling...that's how I ripped up my knee a couple years ago... Other than that, I just keep 'going for it'...and keep on moving...
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 26, 2018 8:39:10 GMT -5
I think that gardening helps to keep me in shape although I probably don't work in the garden for as many hours at one time as I used to without taking a break.
I do always have a 5 gallon bucket with me to lean on when I pull weeds. I don't squat properly due to my artificial knee so I lean on the bucket to protect my back.
Once in a while I turn the bucket upside down and sit on it to either take a break or when I am planting seeds.
I am fortunate in that my husband does the hard physical work for me like roto tilling or spreading compost. I probably would have a smaller garden if he did not help me with these things.
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Post by spike on Jan 26, 2018 9:48:07 GMT -5
Well I am 61 and getting just way to old to scour the toilets or dust but OMG do not even think about mucking about in my garden . . . I will cut you >,< Hubby bought me this garden seat with a tool bag/tools. He was so proud of this! Now I have to find a way to use the dumb thing so as not to hurt his feelings. City boy! When it comes to our gardens we are pretty dang determined in these parts. My 88 year old Uncle was always out in his garden. Sadly he had emphysema so bad he could barely walk 5 feet. BUT I would find him in the garden (no clue how he made it out there) and would bring him back in very slowly with a stool for breaks. So I guess I don't really change much, just figure out 'work arounds' cause I ain't stoppin my gardening!!
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Post by aftermidnight on Jan 26, 2018 10:19:50 GMT -5
80 and I'm feeling it, legs don't co-operate, when back bends, wants to stay in that position. Health problems rear their ugly heads but give up gardening, I don't think so. If there's a will there's away. I have one of those kneeling stools you either sit or kneel on and hubby made me this out of a replacement handle and a piece of rebar. upload an imageI use it for balance when wandering among the flower borders so I don't step on plants, great steadying tool for bending over to pull a weed, small garden too many plants Annette
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Post by paulf on Jan 26, 2018 10:48:10 GMT -5
Amazing Annette...that what I will think of when aftermidnight posts. All these 60 something youngsters explaining and you make us feel like kids.
My seventy year old body just doesn't react like it used to and what took a few hours now takes a day and a half to complete. I hear the legs are first to go and this old runner can attest to that. My knees get sore with too much "on the feet" time in the garden or doing yard work. I mostly mow with a rider but still an hour per week with the push mower makes me tired. I still can rototill all at once and heavy mulching with newspaper and straw saves a lot of effort in the weeding department.
So for now, I am still able to do all the gardening and yard work I ever did. I just listen to my body more closely and take water and gatorade breaks more often. I just hope ten years from now I can be like Amazing Annette.
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Post by meandtk on Jan 26, 2018 15:37:48 GMT -5
I'm 46. All I am concerned about is hydration during the MS summer.
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stone
Pro Member
Posts: 170
Zone:: 8
Favorite Vegetable:: Bambi
Joined: December 2011
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Post by stone on Jan 26, 2018 17:31:14 GMT -5
Is it insane to start a slew of new beds if you hardly have the energy to keep up with what you already have? Nope, its just time to examine priorities. For instance, recognizing that hoeing weeds causes more weeds. Solution? Don't hoe. Figure out that you are causing more harm in striving for that perfect magazine quality garden than a stray volunteer plant or two. That unintended addition can be removed and added to the compost after it bulks up.... In the meantime.... It just might be helping.... By bringing up nutrients that the veggies can't reach. Or... Like me.... Bringing in truckloads of horse poop and leaving them in piles to loosen the soil, and kill the vines.... Saves work. As we age, we work smarter. Someone posted a neat link at the idig forums some years ago, in defence of weeds. I think it makes for fascinating reading... journeytoforever.org/farm_library/weeds/WeedsToC.html
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Post by horsea on Jan 26, 2018 18:31:50 GMT -5
Hi, Annette. I love that nifty tool of yours. Maybe I will require one someday, too. Your photo of the flowers is v. nice. All those perennial cornflowers! I used to have only one in front of the house. What are those light pink spiky flowers?
If there's a will there's a way.
YES! I just keep on trying even though soon enough I'll be in Old Woman Territory...
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Post by aftermidnight on Jan 26, 2018 21:58:51 GMT -5
horsea, hi back at ya, the pink poker flowers are Persicaria superbum, she's a spreader but I pull where I don't want her. Annette
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Post by octave1 on Jan 26, 2018 22:00:44 GMT -5
Aging has made me garden better. Now I know what I can do and what I can't or wouldn't, so I have become selective. I also know what is necessary vs what's superfluous in a garden: mulch is a must, pulling weeds optional. Digging is also optional, as well as hoeing. Minimal targeted effort is my new goal.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 26, 2018 22:38:55 GMT -5
Main change in past few years has been burning more gasoline and less calories. That means more Mantis and less hoeing.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 26, 2018 22:44:09 GMT -5
I'll plant until I'm planted. Well actually cremated but it's the same principle.
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Post by horsea on Jan 27, 2018 0:27:36 GMT -5
Post by mgulfcoastguy:
I'll plant until I'm planted. Well actually cremated but it's the same principle.
I will plant until I'm planted, too. Not burnt. Composted.
Ash is alkaline. Our soil is way too alkaline to begin with.
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stone
Pro Member
Posts: 170
Zone:: 8
Favorite Vegetable:: Bambi
Joined: December 2011
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Post by stone on Jan 29, 2018 9:14:25 GMT -5
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Post by bestofour on Jan 29, 2018 21:32:18 GMT -5
aftermidnight, your garden is gorgeous. I would much rather be composted than buried in a box. I'm a tad claustrophobic and can't stand the thought of it even though I know I won't be thinking when the time comes.
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Post by september on Jan 30, 2018 1:17:44 GMT -5
My, we are turning gory here, LOL! It's cremation for me -- not claustrophobic, but never have liked the idea of lying in the cold frozen ground under snow in the winter. I want to go up in a blast of heat to keep me warm! Afterwards I want to be scattered in a warm tropical sea, I love snorkeling.
I just turned 70, and I dread having to give up my 2nd garden in the woods, it would cut my garden space and time by half which means I could do a much better job in my primary front garden. If I grew fewer tomato varieties, I could still produce enough of everything to keep my freezer stocked, but trialing dozens of new varieties each year is what keeps my interest fresh. It's just hard to admit all these body aches and pains are the new normal now, and I can never go back to feeling as great as I did just 10 years ago.
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Post by bestofour on Jan 30, 2018 9:06:40 GMT -5
I'm 65 and for me it's not so much that I can't as that I don't want too. I don't enjoy spending as much time toiling as I used too. I'd rather plant a little and stand back and enjoy what I've done. I'm fortunate in that I'm not sick or in pain and don't have to take medicine, except allergy shots, I'm just smelling the roses instead of planting them these days.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
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Post by aqua on Jan 30, 2018 10:32:48 GMT -5
Oh wow what wonderful posts here. I really enjoy reading all the different outlooks. Also, many of you are older than me so I am happy to hear that it only makes you more determined to find a way around the problems that age may bring us. Every one of these posts is encouraging. Yes, I need that.
I have no choice, I MUST plant seeds. When I found my birthfamily, I was not surprised to hear that both of my grandmothers were still gardening in their nineties. I was not raised in a gardening environment.
"I will plant until I'm planted" yes, that is wonderful. God willing, my garden is my church and I hope to worship until I die.
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Post by bestofour on Jan 30, 2018 21:08:05 GMT -5
aqua,it is interesting how we take after our parents or grandparents. My mother and father never planted a thing that I remember, never even cut their own grass. But I've always had the desire and need to plant and I've found out that my maternal grandmother was the same way. One of my daughters and 2 of my grand children love the soil like I do so we shall see what happens with them. I'm always planning what I'm going to plant next.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 31, 2018 9:28:56 GMT -5
My mother didn't really like gardening. She only grew veggies because she liked the fresh, free produce.
Dad actually loved the act of gardening and I was always working with him to prepare the soil and plant things. I was not that interested in cooking the end results like I am now.
My brother does not garden at all. He has a couple of flowers in outdoor pots in the summer but that's all. He never worked with me and Dad in the garden either.
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Post by september on Jan 31, 2018 11:10:21 GMT -5
My dad was the gardener and nature lover. He had small vegetable garden edgings along our backyard lawn in town, and finally got his large garden plot when they retired and built a little house on my sister's 40 acres in the country. He came from a farming background, so had lots of practical knowledge on growing things, fermenting kraut and pickles and smoking fish and bacon. I wish I had paid more attention to some of the techniques he used. When he died, my mom didn't really want to do much gardening though we planted a few things for her to keep watered, but she did have some physical limitations too. She did like her flowers, always had beautiful asters.
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Post by horsea on Jan 31, 2018 12:58:47 GMT -5
I have no choice, I MUST plant seeds. When I found my birthfamily, I was not surprised to hear that both of my grandmothers were still gardening in their nineties. I was not raised in a gardening environment.
Five stars for your comment. Scratch deep enough and we find out why we are the way we are even though our parents may have been quite different.
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Post by Gianna on Jan 31, 2018 20:22:22 GMT -5
Both my parents were avid gardeners, as is my only sibling. I had no choice in the matter it seems. Not that I mind - I love it, even as age creeps ever higher.
As I get older, my enthusiasm for starting projects remains - only now I don't always finish them. And don't care. It's the journey, not the destination.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Feb 1, 2018 0:54:01 GMT -5
As a young child can remember a large garden on the farm. Then for some reason none was planted when we moved to another place. About the time I was in the eight grade, I got the desire to garden, and have not looked back since that time. At age 76, have not found a reason to slow down gardening. In fact have been planting more, as sales of root vegetables has increased. Have always been a little nuts about using equipment, so the past 20 or more years, a garden tractor has been my go to tool. Everything from tilling, to planting, to cultivation, to harvest is done with the garden tractor. Know that has made gardening easier, as I age.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2018 4:01:49 GMT -5
Being older than some and younger than others, I suspect it's not just the years that matter, but the mileage and road conditions you've driven your body over!! I carry or keep close a 5 gallon bucket to sit down on from time to time, and work slower now. I used to tell Rob that I was a lazy person who liked to figure out the easiest for me way to do something and try to work smarter. For things that cost me too much to do, I'll hire some one if possible - like turning the plots nice and deeply; I would not be able to do it fast enough and sure would be laid up for trying it, LOL! But, there's lots I can, and do do still.
It works out in the end. I just keep going onwards. The other choice is mostly unappealing still.
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Post by bestofour on Feb 2, 2018 9:43:58 GMT -5
@imp, "The other choice is mostly unappealing still." Exactly
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