Dealing with a large garden as one ages!

[Lily49]

I am passionate about my garden,and have a relatively large one( approx1/3rd acre) . Have been tending it for over 35 years.
It is Full of all sorts of plants.

I am now struggling to maintain it,due to physical limitations, which is Extremely frustrating!

l can only manage about half an hour before l need to stop.

lDo have a gardener,but he can only come every two weeks,weather permitting. So,as you can imagine,there is now a Huge backlog of jobs.
l do Not want to move house.

Is anyone else in a similar position,and if so,how domYou manage things?

 

[Owdboggy]

Sad isn't it? We were in that situation with our 1 acre garden. In the end infirmity won and we had to bite the bullet and move to a smaller garden. Still bigger than most peoples in modern properties. Helps that we both work on it, but we both have the same problems and can only work for short periods. Not a lot of advice there, sorry, just sympathy.

 

[Tetters]

Hello Lily, it's good to have you on board. You are most certainly not on your own with this situation, not that it helps. There are lots of us who feel the same way. My gardens are huge too, and ill health caught up with me over the past couple of years. Coming to terms with the situation is one of the most difficult things to master. I think sometimes the only thing to do is try to see everything in a different light. For example, the area behind my house used to be a bit of a showcase - full of flowers, trees and shrubs and weeded regularly. It is now rather overgrown to say the least. My answer to that is clean and clear pathways to be able to move around the space, and a pair (or two) of decent clippers and loppers. I try to make green passages by clipping shrubs, encouraging the variegated ivy to cover as much rubbish as possible, having a sunny or shady place to sit and watch the birds, and being grateful that I have the green and peaceful space, when so many folk don't even have a balcony. Counting blessings as my mother always told me is good for the soul.
As there are also about 3 acres of grass out front of the house and loads more beds, I look forward to the ''well'' days when I can bumble around on the tractor mower. Short grass seems to make everything look a bit tidier.

Maybe you know young fit people in your neck of the woods who would appreciate the use of some of your garden to use as an allotment space, and do a bit of cleaning up for you in return? That could benefit all of you.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

I feel your pain. My garden has steadily grown since I bought the property over 10 years ago. This year it became appartent that I can no longer keep up. The harvesting has taken up so much time my 60+ fruit and nut trees suffered. Lost 2 trees and removed 1 due to it not thriving. I starting figuring out what to replace them with. Decided 3 less trees is less work. Still need to pull the stumps but nothing going in.

Every year everything gets more difficult and I tire easy. However, i think keeping busy is the important thing. Keep up with what you can to get some exercise.

MOD

 

[Tetters]

I do agree @MiniOrchardDude -keeping busy is so important. I am looking forward to getting back enough strength to manage 10 minutes of weeding time, and it is something to aim for and build on. If we just concentrate on the square metre right in front of us without getting dismayed by the rest, it will all add up and make a difference to all of it! Perseverance and positive thinking

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I manage the day to day stuff by keeping it simple and going for a sit and a read every so often, Spring and planting is what gets me., I keep having accidents, tripped and lost an eye, missed a kerb, fell and dislocated a shoulder, and then this spring had an operation.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

We have 3 acres garden. And my arthritis is horrid at times. But I just putter about everyday outside doing something. Keep moving. And I do not have a gardener. Yes, I am older.

@Lily49 you have "only" 1/3 an acre and a gardener that comes over every 2 weeks? Wish I had a gardener.

Soon all my trees will drop their leaves, then more work happens. We have 10 trees in the front yard, all about 180 foot tall. Have to get out my mower and start, then drag to the woods, piling up the leaves.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.
At 83, I'm having to plan what I do. I'm reasonably fit, but won't spend more time in the garden than four hours.
I like to think ours is a, "low maintenance" garden, that's never true. We have no vegetables, no bedding plants or hanging baskets. Only perennials. Rhodos, azaleas, acers etc.,
The lawn is easy enough to mow as it requires no "edging." So that and a bit of weeding and pruning is all that's necessary. That takes long enough.
But the long term problem will be the care of our five wisterias.
Finding a capable gardener is a problem here. I was incapacitated for a couple of weeks last year, so I got the gardener who does those of a few neighbours, to cut the lawns and do a bit of a tidy up. All these guys want to do is get it done as quickly as possible and move on to the next job.
I wouldn't employ them again. They were rubbish.

My advice would be to just stick to perennials and if something dies, don't replace it.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Would love to find someone to help with the raking of all the leaves, no one wants to work. I have certain beds that I would not trust anyone in, but I have some that have easier to identify plants, to work in, but no one wants to work. Mowing the grass is the easy part. hop on the lawn mower and run about. But prior to mowing its picking up all the twigs/limbs/branches that have fallen from any storms etc and cart all that off to the wood pile, then I can get the mower out. Sometimes I can take 3 piled high wheel barrels of twigs just from the front yard to the burn pile. And then there is dragging limbs that have broken off to the wood pile. I should be skinny.
Yes, all are perennials, but then there is the pruning that needs to be done.
Few weeks back had to saw some smaller limbs off my row of trees on the side lawn, as they were rubbing into each other, or near-by. Anyway. Can't find help. Onward. Keeps me moving. Just turned 71 years old. I hope to keep going for another 18 years.

 

[Sean Regan]

Would love to find someone to help with the raking of all the leaves,

You could try this.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

You could try this.

View attachment 100346

Actually did something close to that many years ago. When we first moved in, the prior owners had planted Packasandra in the front, I hate it. Put an add in the paper, Free Packasandra, you dig, you take. Had 3 ladies come over, all joyous, they dug it all out for me. Yes, I did spell it right in the add.

 

[Mick Emery]

I'm 76 & am glad I started raised beds & Square Foot Gardening about 12 years ago.
Similar to what Tetters said, it's easier to work on a square foot at a time.
I get VERY FEW weeds & what I do get comes out easily.
We grow most of our food & can, freeze or dehydrate.
The most time I really spend, in the garden, is done harvesting.

Maybe there's a high school nearby that has agricultural courses or something similar where students could get credit for working?

Folks here are right. No one wants to work anymore.
When I was a kid I used to knock on every door in my hometown to see if anyone had work they wanted done.
Good Luck. Keep the faith!
Mick

 

[big rockpile]

Well I have one side that don't work well. Arthritis. Almost Deaf. And can't go like most people.

I'm going to say I have a small garden 20X20 but I have a Greenhouse and different plants in my yard.

Plus we heat with wood and have Chickens.

Our Son helps but it is getting old for him.

big rockpile

 

[Esther Knapicius]

We used to heat with wood. Husband would go get the "free" wood. Somehow word got out, and folks had wood they wanted cleared off their property. We still even have a gas splitter. So, my job in the winter was to stack the wood inside the basement outside doors and get the wood stove in the basement started and keep it cooking. Was an awesome ugly stove, with two oxygen valves, but it put out the heat, even the walls of the house were warm, and the floor above the heat, even with a barrier above the stove, was warm. I'd say we did that for 28 years. Husband got tired of it all, now we don't do it anymore. It does cause dirt, carries soot through the house, even if its in the basement.

 

[DrCase]

I have been planning for that day to come for along time.
I got rid of almost everything that needs a lot of trimming , and got low maintenance plants.
i only have 15 minutes of grass to mow , lots of raised beds with deep mulch,
It’s still plenty to do but it’s easy