Aches and pains from one 72 year old's perspective------

[Atticus]

I had to use the push mower this morning on a slope too steep for the rider. The combination of struggling to control the path of the mower while walking across the incline did what it usually does: it gave my arthritic joints more stress than they could accommodate without complaining loudly. Wrists, knees, ankles---all began to "sing".

At one point, I paused to relieve the discomfort and started to feel sorry for myself. Why, I wondered, did I have to endure this? I have rheumatoid arthritis and that's plenty of justification for taking it easy at my age. And, then, I reminded myself of friends who died "before their time" and others who are so physically debilitated that they are housebound or bedridden. I shamefully admitted that I am one of the lucky ones.

Before finishing the slope, I mentally repeated something my Dad used to say: "It's easier to stay up than it is to get up."

The day will come when I will no longer mow that slope but, for now, I'm staying up.

[LakeArenal]

1. Youth is sure wasted on the young.

I have bad arthritis too.

I wouldn’t trade with anyone. Mine is not life threatening and yes so many before me and after me will be worse.

I miss bike riding and walking on uneven ground.

[mitch96]

13. "Youth is wasted on the young." my grumpy old father use to say that when I was in my 20's

I never understood what it meant.. Now that I'm 72.. I get it...
m

[634-5789]

2. As a 70 YO...

AGREED!

[skylucy]

3. Good thoughts Atticus! I can totally relate and I needed to be reminded that I too

am "one of the lucky ones".

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. We had a steep slope

in one yard where we lived. My late ex attached a stout rope to the power mower and stood at the top of the hill, yanking the thing up and down. I was always surprised that it didn't run away with him...or from him. But it worked! Maybe you could try that with the push mower. As I learned in nursing, it's easier to pull than push.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. I understand. Maybe it's time to hire a neighborhood teen to at least do that slope,

if not the entire lawn.

[NNadir]

6. As I say often, the alternative to growing old is dying young.

[jmbar2]

7. Used to have a slope that I hated mowing.

One year, I planted every square inch of it in a succession of flowering plants and bulbs. It became glorious, but I did have to deadhead and trim sometimes. That was easier than mowing.

[nilram]

8. Great idea! Do you have a list of what works?

I can also enter around for resources in my area.

[jmbar2]

19. Depends on your zone, but...

The trick is to think through the annual lifecycle of the garden.

Spring bulbs will bloom Feb-May, depending on the bulb (tulips, daffodils, ranunculus, paperwhites, etc)

Then you need to let the leaves of the spring bulbs fade and die after blooming to store up energy for next year. So you need to plant other plants to hide those leaves. (You can also tie them in small bundles). Intersperse them with warm weather bulbs, which tend to keep their leaves year round, such agapanthus and shorter canna lilies. Also poppies and other early spring plants.

For spring-summer, I like to mass plant zinnias, delphiniums, blackeyed susans, cosmos, celosia, bluebonnets, and nasturtiums. They will bush out in between the warm weather bulb leaves, giving the garden a full look.

For autumn, clear out the dead leaves, and swap in some mums, sedum, and other cool weather plants.

For dead of winter, clean out the garden and prepare for the spring blooms!

Here is a good article on succession planting for cut flowers.

https://www.floretflowers.com/succession-planting-how-to-keep-the-harvest-going-all-season-long/

Happy growing!

[cannabis_flower]

20. I think it depends on where you live

But my mother has (and always has had) a lot of plants. There is a book she has called “The Lazy Gardener”. It has a bunch of tips for doing hard stuff more easily. Like when she was going to start a new garden in a place that had grass, she would wet it down real good and then cover the grass with black plastic sheeting for a few weeks. The grass would die and be a lot easier to remove.

She used to plant monkey grass around the edge of all her gardens because it keeps the lawn grass out and is practically indestructible (you can accidentally cut it with the lawnmower and it will come right back.

Day lilies are good, at least where we were. They don’t take much maintenance.

[Grasswire2]

21. Lawns are increasingly out of fashion!!

Please plant your space with food for pollinators. Native wild flowers and native seed and fruit bearing plants. Audubon societies have plenty of information on transforming lawn to something so much better for the earth and for the critters who help to grow food.

[Ocelot II]

24. I've done the same thing. It's a whole lot easier to maintain than mowing.

I've planted mostly native plants that attract pollinators and it pretty much takes care of itself.

[Hamlette]

9. love that saying from your Dad

I've never heard it before, so true.

My Mom used to say "getting old is all about maintenance." I had no idea what she was talking about until I got old. Staying up is all you can do.

[Best_man23]

10. I'm in my late 50s with a bad back

Even with that, I do mow my lawn by the house with a push mower, and plan to continue to do so for as long as I'm physically able. I have a riding mower for the rest, as the lawn is just under an acre. I also plan to continue work for as long as I physically and cognitively can (or at least until such time I can no longer tolerate the BS).

My dad "retired" in 1984 in his early 60s. He came home and just sat up watching TV every day. Two years later we were having his memorial service. That experience taught me to stay up and continue moving.

[usaf-vet]

11. 74 agreeing here.

[multigraincracker]

12. You have keep moving.

Had a tree blow down and crush a fence. My deductible would be $1,400, so I did it all myself. Got it done in a couple of weeks. Just kept moving. My new pacemaker just kept a pumping and didn’t miss a beat.
Best of luck.

[DownriverDem]

16. Good for

you!!!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

14. your Dad was a wise man!

I try to live with that philosophy myself..........

[DownriverDem]

15. So very true

As my Mom used to say "Keep moving". I work on that every day.

[Skittles]

17. a lot of fine people are denied the privilege of getting old

yes indeed

[Vinca]

18. I know exactly what you're talking about. 73 here and I spent the morning cutting back a giant

forsythia bush we have to have relocated when people with a backhoe come to do some septic system repairs. The thing has been there for decades and I had to saw some of the unloppable branches which were as big as small trees. I then dragged them to a place where my husband can push them back into the woods with his tractor to rot. It doesn't hurt so much when you're doing it, but when you stop the arthritis kicks in and one hip reminds me it's not the replaced one. I only have one word of advice: Aleve.

[Grasswire2]

22. thank you for saving garden clippings and cuttings for the critters.

Branches, twigs, leaves -- all of that matter shelters and feeds birds and critters in the winter, and decomposes into enrichment for the soil.

People should stop grooming their property.

[GoodRaisin]

23. Glad you are still going. I'm turning 69 next month and my time for doing these tasks

has unfortunately come to an end during the past year. The aches and pains in the joints finally manifested into cervical and lumbar spine stenosis that has shut me down.

Not bedridden yet but I’m for sure done with working in the yard.

[Native]

25. Our last house was on the water. Across from us, our neighbor had a steep slope

that went from the back of the house down to his seawall. We were always worried when he'd hop on his ride 'em lawn mower to mow that section. One day when I was sitting out back, I watched him lose control of the mower. He managed to jump off just before it plunged into the gulf. Later that afternoon I saw it on a flatbed being driven back to his house after it had been dragged to the marina. It was pretty hilarious.