Confessions of a Rapidly Aging Gardener

October 31st, 2017

   I’ll admit it. This is the first year that I’m a tad bit glad the growing season is winding to a close.

George after two hours in the garden.

   It’s not that I’m looking forward to winter. I still really don’t like cold, snow and ice.

   And it’s not that I’m tired of gardening or my plants or even the so-called “work” that goes into caring for my yard.

   Rather, it’s just that I’m tired. Period.

   I used to be able to garden all day on one of those too-few, no-appointment/no-work Saturdays. I had the energy and motivation to go non-stop while overlooking minor distractions such as going to the bathroom or stopping for lunch… and end the day ready for more.

   Not anymore.

   After two hours, I’m thinking about what jobs I can put off until tomorrow. After four hours, I’m ready to call it a day and wondering whether I should’ve quit 15 minutes earlier to save energy for a shower.

George after four hours in the garden.

   My benches, garden swing and patio chairs are no longer mere yard ornaments. They now call me by name as I walk by with my compost bucket of yanked weeds in tow.

   These days, my back and knees are stiff and sore even when I didn’t do anything yet.

   These days, I think about whether I can take care of two or three things before deciding whether it’s worth bending over.

   These days, afternoon snoozing sounds like a better idea than afternoon snipping.

   My creeping tiredness got me wondering this summer whether I had contracted Lyme disease. One of the symptoms of this scourge of outdoor folks is flagging energy and achiness. A few weeks earlier, I had dislodged a tick from my left leg, although it was a dog tick and not the smaller, black-legged or so-called “deer tick” that most often spreads Lyme.

   The Lyme test came back negative. Then I passed my annual physical – with surprisingly good cholesterol and blood-pressure numbers to boot.

   So it looks like the most plausible explanation is that this 61-year-old is a rapidly aging gardener whose gas tank is starting to run on fumes.

   I heard this time was coming. All of my “veteran” gardener friends warned me it was going to get harder out there. But I didn’t listen and went ahead and aged anyway.

   Now I’m embracing the strategies of geezer gardeners who have gone before, such as filling in bare space with groundcovers to reduce the back-break of mulching; leaning even more toward low-care, compact plants; splitting big jobs into smaller, multi-day ones; shrinking the space devoted to annuals; relying on a sprinkler hooked to an automatic timer to water the vegetable garden, and becoming better friends with power tools.

For more aging-gardener tips, read my PennLive column on “late bloomers”

Or read my past post on author Sydney Eddison’s advice on gardening while getting old

   As the leaves fall and the tender foliage dies back on the 2017 season, I’m ready to finish off the to-do list, reel in my tender foliage, and go dormant for a few months.

   God willing, I’ll come back recharged when the snowdrops bloom. But I’m still planning to make sure I can do at least two things before bending over.