Once you enter your sixth decade, some things that used to be easy, become not so easy. Gardening is a one of them. Here’s some advice from a remarkably lazy person (me) on how we can get some exercise and enhance our outdoor living space while respecting our aging bones…
Get someone else to do the heavy stuff. Whether it’s a gardening/landscaping company or neighborhood kids, hire out the tough jobs – buying potting soils if you need more than one bag, heavy weeding, mulching, digging out overgrown or unwanted plants and shrubs, cutting and clearing debris. Basically, anything you don’t want to do, and things your doctor would make a face at if they knew you’d done it.
Plant native perennials. If you’re planting in the ground, consider using perennials instead of annuals. Plants including Daisies, Black-eyed Susan, Daylilies, Sedum, Coneflowers, Alliums, Phlox, Salvia, Liatris, Hosta, Lavender, Coreopsis, Bee Balm and Native Milkweed* (which butterflies lay their eggs on) come back and can spread. And they’re beautiful, and they attract and feed butterflies, honeybees, and hummingbirds.
*If you’re planting Milkweed and you have rabbits and deer visiting your garden, get some nice young person to put up stakes and chicken wire around them while they get established.
Roses are thorny. Hybrid tea roses look beautiful lined up in their pots at garden centers, and they smell beautiful, too. But they require constant attention for pests and deadheading to encourage new blooms. I like “Knockout” shrub roses. They’re easy to care for, and relatively disease-free. Just remember to always wear gardening gloves, and preferably long, tough gloves thorns can’t penetrate. You can find them at garden centers or online.
Use a kneeler or a kneeling pad. If you’re going to weed or plant, protect your knees – and your back. You can get inexpensive foam kneeling pads or clever contraptions that help you get back up at most garden centers.
Cover up and drink up. Even if you plan to be working outside for a few minutes, you’ll probably be out there longer. You can get a cheap straw hat with a wide brim at almost any big discount clothing outlet or seasonal store. Lands’ End and other retailers have entire sections of sun protection clothing at good prices. I wear long pants, long sleeves and socks in light colors so it’s easy to see if any ticks are feeling attached to me. And stay hydrated! Iced coffee, iced tea and Martinis are great, but they don’t count. Think water, or a sports drink.
Gardening on a deck, patio or porch. If you garden on a porch, patio or deck, herbs and annuals will be happy in pots or other containers. And if you’d like a ready-made mini garden, most garden centers sell potted herb and plant selections. I use little “pot toes” I find online or at garden centers to keep pots elevated so the water doesn’t sit on the wood decking.
Add a water feature. One of my favorite garden writers, Beverley Nichols, said that no garden is complete without a water feature. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is nice to have water in the garden, whether it’s a shallow container filled with pebbles to attract thirsty honeybees, or a birdbath.
Mad dogs and Englishmen. The playwright Noel Coward wrote a song about how only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. He wasn’t being nice. If you’re going to be gardening outside, do it before 10am or after 2pm to avoid the sun at its strongest.
Have fun, stay hydrated, and don’t lift anything you have to think about lifting.
XO Brenda