When you have a passion for gardening, as I’m sure you do, it doesn’t fade with age. Quite the opposite, in fact! Over many years of gardening, we gain experience through trial and error, references in the field and reading up on the subject. This accumulation of experience gives us more and more confidence to experiment with other horticultural or gardening projects. In many cases, we have to moderate, reason and restrict ourselves to make choices that respect our limits of time, budget, knowledge and especially, as we age, our physical limits.
I’ve been gardening since I was 13. I’ve always loved nature, even though I was born in Montreal. I started gardening when my parents bought land and my father, a college teacher, became a Gentleman Farmer. As my parents had never planted a garden in Montreal, and as I had, by the age of 13, recognized a taste for gardening, it was I who looked after the large garden to feed the family of 5 children, of which I was the eldest. It was the discovery of this passion that led me to study gardening, a field that still fascinates me to this day, at the age of 65.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way!
The passion is still there, even after all these years. However, the energy to satisfy that passion is not the same as it was at twenty. We realize that as we age, the expression “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” takes on a different meaning. It’s not that as we age, we can no longer live our passion, but because we no longer have the energy of youth, we have to find tricks, means and ways of doing things that will enable us to continue to satisfy that passion.
A wise person once told me: “Serge, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll only have what you’ve always had, nothing more!” I found this phrase full of meaning, and since then it’s stayed with me, helping me to change the things, gestures and habits that don’t bring me the satisfaction, peace and harmony I want in my life.
Gardening requires physical effort and patience. You can’t just wave a magic wand and expect results. It takes time and effort. As far as time is concerned, by the time we retire, we’re supposed to have more of it, although many retirees say they’re busier than ever. As for the physical effort required to get there, that’s where we have to change our way of doing things, because our capacities are no longer the same as they were when we were 20. So, what can we do?
When you have vegetable garden, there are, so to speak, three main stages:
- Seedlings and planting;
- In-season maintenance;
- Harvests galore.
Seedlings and Planting
This is a pleasant stage, requiring little physical effort. Some varieties can be sown indoors, and don’t require much physical effort. It’s just pleasant to reconnect with the earth and plants in the middle of winter. You have time to dream about your future garden and what you’re going to grow as soon as the warmer season arrives.
When the time comes to sow or transplant outdoors, the frenzy of gardening takes hold and energizes us. This stage is also relatively easy. You can go at your own pace and, normally, once you’ve done it, you don’t have to do it again.
Harvests Galore
At this stage, it’s the culmination of our efforts and patience. It’s the pleasure of harvesting what we’ve sown and nurtured all season. This stage is gradual, as our crops mature. What could be more pleasant than picking fresh lettuce and a few radishes to make a nice salad? Picking beautiful little cherry tomatoes and eating them straight away as you walk around the garden! This step is not too physically demanding and can be accomplished by gardeners of all ages and virtually all physical conditions.
In-Season Maintenance
Ah, there’s the rub! It’s during this stage that many of you have to curb your desire to garden, for lack of the physical capacity for the upkeep it requires, or at least seems to require. For example, I don’t think anyone enjoys weeding for hours on end, squatting in the hot sun, sweating profusely because the weather is humid and over 30°C (86°F)!
At 65, I’ve been thinking for a long time about how I could simplify my life and still have a beautiful garden and landscaping. I was already thinking about it at the age of 40. At the time, it wasn’t that I was no longer physically fit (knock on wood, I’m in very good health and I thank the heavens for this gift of life), but it was that at the time I was managing a garden center and was a landscaper, and what I lacked was time!
Time for weeding, weeding, hoeing, watering, pruning, in short, everything that is work work! For lack of time, I neglected these operations and ended up with mediocre, unsatisfactory and discouraging results despite all the effort I’d put into them since sowing, which made me feel like I’d wasted my time!
More Wisdom
Young and old alike, nobody likes wasting time and effort. And that’s not Laidback, it’s wisdom. So, to be able to live our passion, we need to cut down on tasks, and it’s the tasks involved in maintaining our crops that need to be simplified, if not eliminated.
In the next instalment, I’ll give you some ideas on how to simplify all the maintenance tasks listed above. This will appeal to young gardeners and experienced retirees alike, because there’s no age limit to acquiring wisdom, which, for me, is the foundation of a Laidback gardener like our friend Larry was!
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