Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older

4 Responses to Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older

1. Bold Consumer says:

   May 30, 2010 at 2:58 am

   This is such an honest little handbook for the overwhelmed gardener. We don’t always have the time, good health, or energy for gardening responsibilities, but we keep bringing in more of everything and with each comes more tasks. I’ve been wondering for quite some time if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew in my current garden. The author has gone through the same process and helps us make our gardens appropriate for our current (and future) needs.

   When do we have enough trees, shrubs, and plants? How do we know if we have too much and what do we do about it? This book addresses in general and very specific ways to control what goes in, or stays in, our gardens, so we can continue to enjoy them without being overwhelmed.

   After reading this book, a weight lifted off my shoulders, because she recommends that for certain tasks we get help, as much help as we can afford. Whew! I had felt so guilty not to be able to do it all. After all, it’s my garden! The best part of it is, she talks about her various helpers over the years and their different approaches and what she has learned from each of them. I love this quote about one of her helpers, “she knew how to hit the high spots and keep us up to speed.” The author is a garden perfectionist, which isn’t always the best strategy for gardening.

   One very simple example is how she has learned to use lists, a practical idea for me. “When you feel overwhelmed by all the things that cry out to be done in the garden, making a list can be useful.” Actually, she has several lists, including a daily list, which she tells us to keep short because we have too many other obligations already, and a master list, which we can chomp off items on as we have time, rather than stand around in the garden wondering what we could get done in the 30 minutes we have available today. Great idea. Her solutions are practical, and that’s what I need in my life.

   The fact that the author is a perfectionist began to work against her over time. She kept expanding her garden, but expected to be able to keep it at the same standards she had when it was smaller. That didn’t work for her, so she learned how to bring her garden dreams into line with the “realities” of her life. She eventually came to the conclusion that something had to go. That’s the meat of this book, the process she goes through to decide what, when, and how to start simplifying. For example, she says, “The greater the variety of perennials you grow, the more work your border will entail…each one demands something—staking, deadheading, cutting back, or division, either to ensure good flower production or to restrain its spread.” She also teaches us that if we have one genus or species monopolizing our time and dominating our garden, we need to think about reducing its number.

   Then she gives the standards a perennial must meet in order for it to remain, or be added to, her garden as it fits her life right now. She gives specifics, which is very helpful!

   One of my favorite and possibly the most helpful to me is, “…it was cheaper to buy shredded bark mulch by the yard, have it delivered, and hire an able-bodied young man to put it down than for the two of us to spend all summer hauling three-cubic-foot bags around the garden.” I think I like that idea. I’ll probably save enough money on tools and medical expenses to pay for that extra help.

   I love the “Pick Your Battles” section as well as the “Accepting Imperfection” chapter.

   She tells us just what plant categories she has found that practically take care of themselves and helps us explore new and different ways to garden.

   I have enjoyed this book and will benefit from it as I try to cram way too much into my life. At least I can work intelligently to create a garden that is appropriate for my needs.
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. J. Jernberg says:

   May 30, 2010 at 5:55 am

   I read this delightful book in one sitting. Ms. Ellison worries about how both her forty-year old garden and herself will survive old age. She doesn’t want to give it up entirely, so she looks for friends, experts, and resources to decide the best ways to keep the garden and do less work. It is perfect approach for gardeners like me, approaching 70, to find a way to keep gardening “forever.”
   Rating: 5 / 5
3. allanbecker-gardenguru says:

   May 30, 2010 at 8:18 am

   It creeps up slowly to surprise when it is least expected. It is a gardener’s worst nightmare. No, it is not an invasive weed. It is old age. I am not certain when it happened to me but one day, while gardening, it became clear that I could no longer sustain this enjoyable activity for 6 hours without stopping! I wasn’t twenty seven anymore. Gardening was slowly turning into an un-enjoyable chore. The energy level had dropped, the joints ached, and being winded was becoming the norm. Now I garden for fewer hours and that restriction is frustrating because there is so much that is left undone. Some of my peers have stopped altogether; they have sold their homes and moved into condominiums. For those of us that would like to maintain our gardens as long as possible, the author of this publication has some wise advice.

   Sydney Eddison came to the realization that her garden had become too great a responsibility with the death of her husband. Together with a wise coach, she created a list of steps that might lighten the burden of gardening into old age. Some of the suggestions include replacing needy plants with those that are lower maintenance, making and keeping lists of chores and then prioritizing them, learning to live with imperfect results, adapting a realistic attitude towards lawn care, and learning techniques that save time and energy

   The author offers many pearls of wisdom on the subject of lightening the load; I have dog-eared about 16 pages of helpful advice that I plan to incorporate into my gardening routine. These suggestions will allow me to continue to garden while maintaining my pride, my skills and above all my dignity. Some of us no longer have careers that define us. Gardening as recreation replaced that years ago and it became the new source of accomplishment. Why should we have to stop now? With the help of the author and with some compromises, this reviewer will be able to continue to derive pleasure from a passionate hobby, even as the aging process evolves.

   Ms.Eddison is a nationally recognized gardener, speaker, and prolific writer whose own garden has been featured in magazine and television shows, including Martha Stewart Living and The Victory Garden. It is impressive that at a crossroad in her personal life that she should encounter head on the challenges of the aging gardener and write about it with grace and dignity. This is a terrifying topic for some of us and the author is to be commended for tackling it with both realism and optimism.

   Rating: 3 / 5
4. krc says:

   May 30, 2010 at 8:47 am

   Enjoyable read about downsizing a long-established garden.I However I could not relate too much as I do not have acres and acres to garden. Still recommend especially for older gardens.
   Rating: 4 / 5