Re: leaving your garden behind

In a message dated 12/10/02 11:52:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
cyberduo@txucom.net writes:


> The upside is that now I'm starting all over again.   Even though being 
> older makes it all more difficult, we are in an entirely different 
> climate zone and growing situation so though I will miss some of my 
> favorites there are many new things to try I couldn't even dream of 
> before.   Got to look forward.

I would like to comment on the older thing.

I deal with that issue every spring and here are some methods I have learned 
by way of a sore back and waning energy.

Plan what to grow and cut that amount in half.  Check the seedlist and prune 
that also.

Learn to make beds without digging, there are many ways.

Used raised beds for seeding, cuttings, trials, a few (really just a few) 
veggies, holdovers and other experiments.  The soil will be perfect, there is 
a place to sit and the area needs so little care you will wonder why you did 
not start this way.

Find some young man in your area and plan a day for him.  Pay him enough to 
be happy to come and have him cut, prune, drag off brush, move rocks, mix 
soils, unload the car of heavy bags of peat and other things.  One or two 
days in spring and in the fall will accomplish wonders, keep a list of things 
to do.  If you have a son or grandson, bribe him.

Don't grow labor intensive plants or shrubs.  Don't grow shrubs that sucker.  
If you get stuck with any of these things, be ruthless and get rid of them.  
Some of these plants will take your time from more likable plants, it adds up 
quickly, the lost time on removing suckers.

Be aware of the garden season in your area and plan what you will do during 
those months.  If the garden is important enough, cancel the weekends and the 
meetings and the theater tickets and make your schedule around what you 
really like.  It is the old adage, you are here only once.

Don't cut grass.  Maybe you should not even have grass.  Get anybody else to 
do it.  Cutting grass saps energy and can ruin your ability to do anything 
else on a hot day.  Some grass framing beds is quite nice but some to me 
means around 18 inches or one mower swath. Don't get caught up in weed free 
grass.  Forget grass (lawn)

There is a theater trick called blocking.  The actor learns his lines (how do 
they do it?) in blocks and separates each block in his thinking.  The 
gardener can do the same thing.  If you tour your garden in the AM and see 
all that needs care, you will be overwhelmed.  Look into one part only, care 
for that and avoid entirely the rest.  You then get something accomplished 
and the rest is much easier the next tour.

If you always have one part of the garden that never quite gets care and 
always nags at you, get rid of it.

Acquire and learn to use containers.  When you can no longer wield the tools, 
you can have a fantastic array of plants on the walks and decks.  Keep the 
heavy containers near the house and near the water supply.  Have some for sun 
and some for shade.   My very elderly mother has a garden in a nursing home 
on a wide windowsill.  I change the pots now and then or add a new one.  She 
enjoys watching the seasons change and bulbs come into bloom, etc. The heavy 
containers can be tipped over, rolled into a cart and stored.  This is a neat 
trick once learned.  Ours go into a garage which is under the house so it is 
frost free.  You can store on their sides and roll back out in spring using 
the same cart trick.

Buy a cart, any kind you like, or wheelbarrow of the newest weightless type. 
Mine can be lifted with one arm and should have been around twenty years ago.

In the UK in one of the public gardens, I saw wheelchair gardens.  They were 
built-up beds where no bending was required or you could care for them from a 
wheelchair.  They had draping plants down the sides and were very attractive. 
 This may extreme for an aging gardener but I liked the idea and took a 
photograph.

You can bind or tape or use some other clever way to put a favorite handtool 
on a long handle to avoid bending.  I bought something like this in a garage 
sale once and it took a few years to understand why the owner had done it.

If anyone has more practical, truly practical and useful ideas for an older 
gardener, I am sure some on this list will be happy to hear them.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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