“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything” – William Shakespeare
Spring requires a lot of energy! With all the outside work to be done over the next few weeks, I sometimes long for a little more “spirit of youth” in myself. On a fair day, it comes back to me in the form of unbounded enthusiasm for working in the yard. The April sun calls to me but once I’m outside working, reality sets in as my body reminds me of my age. Still, loving gardening as I do, the work goes on, albeit at a slower pace.
Sunday being sunny and mild, my husband and I planted two gallon-sized lilac shrubs in an area we can see from our kitchen. The heaviest work of digging the planting holes and removing rocks fell to my husband, while I did my share of pot hauling, back-filling with soil and watering in. This new garden is a work in progress, including a vegetable patch and perennials, into which we are slowly incorporating some shrubs to gradually blend everything in with the taller trees beyond. Although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves working outside on this beautiful spring day and could have kept going, we chose to respect our age and wisely left other projects for another day. This is our “common sense” gardening approach and really our approach to everything these days – do what you can on a given day but don’t overdo it!
When I think about common sense gardening and working smarter, I’m reminded of that famous garden sage, Ruth Stout. Born in Kansas in 1884, Ruth moved to a country setting in New York State when she married at age 18. She knew nothing about gardening but instantly fell in love with the rural landscape which included apple trees and fragrant lilacs. After hiring someone with a plow to turn over the soil, she planted a vegetable patch, gardening the same way everyone else did at that time. One year in April when the man hadn’t arrived in time to plow, she decided that maybe there was an easier way to garden without turning over the soil at all.
Ruth’s revolutionary gardening method was to plant everything in layers of mulch with no digging needed. As the straw and hay mulch decomposed, the nutrients fed the plants, requiring no other fertilizer. Amazingly, everything that she planted grew with very little effort! Ruth wrote many popular books based on her “no work” method and gardened this way until her death in 1980 at 96 years old. Although I don’t use her layered garden technique, other than applying a yearly mulch, I will always have great respect for her common sense approach to gardening and life.
As we age, it’s hard for us to admit that we can’t do it all anymore. Over the last couple of years, we’ve enlisted the help of landscapers to mulch and edge our large perennial gardens since the sheer effort of accomplishing this task every spring has become daunting. Don’t get me wrong, we are very active Baby Boomers who do a lot of physical work maintaining our home and yard, and we don’t see that stopping anytime soon. We’re not lazy by any means; we’ve just learned the difference between what is easily accomplished on our own and what requires a little help. There’s no shame here, no guilt, and no aching back! Like Ruth Stout, we’ve found an easier way to make it all happen.
They say that “slow and steady wins the race,” and I believe that’s really the key to healthy aging. I’ll do what I can, when I can, and be thankful for all I do accomplish. To me, no matter how long it takes, every day spent working in the garden is a gift!
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