My 'issues' arrived before I got serious about gardening, so I didn't have to adapt familiar ways of doing things to new/changing health circumstances.
I've never known any different as far as gardening's concerned.
My vision and memory suck, so I try to always put things in the same place and not leave the secateurs in the garden while I (...).
I still spend lots of time wandering round looking for things I put down!
My balance is also 'iffy'. My veggie beds are pretty narrow (about 3.3 ft)which makes me less likely to keel over and squash everything. There's been a few tragedies, but a good watering'll perk up most things!
I've had to come to terms with some of my contradictory urges: 'natural' shaped and sized fruit trees aren't an option for space and access reasons. I've embraced espalier, which also satisfies my desire for control...
and rather than trying to keep weeds out, I let them go where they're not a problem, and mulch heavily everywhere else.

Easy one for me Barb; Heart is not good, so.

1. Changed to square foot garden, Big change, but I love it
2. go to work in the garden/yard with a hoe/stick/shovel so I can get up if I need to bend down.
3. Grow only what I can use, and not extra for whoever.
4. Work only when the temperature is mild.
5. use my riding lawn mower to pull the sled around when it gets a heavy load.
6. Don't worry about turning the compost pile, it will turn to compost soon. Well I can do some, turning is Kinda fun you know.
I can still do a lot, but I must time myself and watch out for strenuous tasks.

Curt

Pippimac reminded me of a few more for my list ... my memory has never been good, so not an age 'thing', but I keep a garden journal, keep a water/fert chart taped to back door window so can keep track of what has been/must be done. Re: looking for lost items ... I have sprayed red paint on all of my garden tools. The all time best gift my kids ever gave me is a kneeling stool that can be used as a bench and helps to oooch myself up from kneeling position. Agree about not turning compost pile ... never have done that...too many other things I'd rather be doing.
Gardening is such a gift ... don't see a day when I won't do something with plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:313221}}

Raised beds. Getting those weeds 2 ft off the ground level, so I can weed and tend the plants without having to get down on the ground with my bad knees.

I'm old, I guess, but I'm still strong. Most of the changes I've made are just more practical than my past methods.

Some compost piles are now located in the gardens they'll feed. Less barrowing.

I do considerably less forking than I did in my youth. I used to fork my whole garden. Now I only do the rows, and not all of those.

I'm growing more crops vertically, not because of age, but because I prefer it. It will help when I become more frail, though.

I'm making raised beds, but because of soil conditions more than anything else.

I grow fewer flowers, and more food, every year.

At Starbucks, in my more frail future, I'm going to take one of those large plant saucers on wheels and wheel the bag out to my truck where I'll transfer it into bags I hope I can still heft onto the truck. (I'm going to carry a little step ladder to help me into said truck.)

In my late years, I'm going to get myself a very young, and strong, gardening companion to come live with me.

I figure "orange is the color of gardening." I have an orange carrying case, orange kneeler (A.M. Leonard), orange buckets from Home Depot, and I painted the handles of all my tools with an orange spray paint by sticking them all in the ground and spraying -- my neighbor found that decidedly creepy, all those sharp implements stuck in the ground and orange, for some reason. I did this after I lost a brown $50 English hand hoe and NEVER found it from that day to this.

I won't ever use flimsy kneelers again because I got a staph infection in my spine this summer and spent two months out of gardening (or walking) and two weeks in the hospital because of it --- it wasn't subtle, my knee turned black and swelled where the bug got in. I had changed to a soft sit-on styrofoam after an A.M. Leonard kneeler I had used for years wore out. I now have two more of the good sturdy plasticized orange kneelers and am careful.....

I am now limiting gardening to two hours a day. I MAY build up to three again by spring, but the days of 3 shading into 4 hours are supposed to be over. I do get tired.

And if it is hot and sunny and I start breathing fast, it's time to stop, now.

Don't fork at all any more

Till minimally, tiller will last longer as will I, soil will be better off for it.

More fallow/cover crops, me and the garden need the rest

Less compost turning, as stated above, it'll still compost, just not as fast.

Keep the 12 fruit trees pruned to an easy working level and total size, still enjoy the visual perspective of working off the 8' orchard ladder.

Keep the raspberries trellised up so they can be harvested without humping around with my head below the level of my rear end.

Having been a horticulturist all my life I found no need to keep records until about 10 years ago and began out of curiosity for a few years and then quit. Now, I must keep records because it takes too darned long to figure out what I want to do based on what I've done. Thank god for this computer, my paper record keeping is always a mess.

Ask my wife for help, that one can be difficult to do.

PLAN AHEAD or it'll get screwed up some how or another.

Don't forget to lay down on my back under a fruit tree or 2 and look straight up, talk about a vastly different perspective!

I like this thread.

More stretching before and after garden work.

More Advil. Much more Advil.

Or to go in the other direction:

What changes have you made in your physical conditioning to keep yourself in good shape for gardening and other pastimes?

I have started weight training with dumbells and barbells to try slow the rate of my decline. My exercise the last ten years was walking and biking.

"In my late years, I'm going to get myself a very young, and strong, gardening companion to come live with me." That definitely sounds like a plan Annpat! I'll have to be on the lookout for one for myself! LOL

I'm very stubborn and am denying that I have any challenges at all! ;-D However, I hardly turned any compost this year but layered it and have been ignoring it. I'll use it soon no matter how ready or not it is.

I'll get serious about using cardboard and mulch in more areas to reduce weeding.

Planning to grow decorative swaths of hardy self seeders and cover crops. I recently collected and scattered a lot of seeds and hope they come up. If not I'll sow more in the spring.

Take frequent breaks and try to limit total time in the garden, especially when doing heavy work. Continue to reward myself with a nice cold beer or glass of wine (drugs of choice) at the end of the gardening day. It's something to look forward to and signals an end to the work. Otherwise I'd be gardening by the light of the moon probably.

I'm keeping better records but hard copy in a book since my computer crashed twice in the last 2 years.

I'm continuing to stay as active in many areas of my life within the parameters I'm able to. Old age ain't for sissies.

Robert .... great 180! Organized/charted weight training to build/keep muscle tone/strength is the epitome of puting a postive spin on accomdating age ... by adding instead of subtracting. Like it!

I am putting in new beds & making my garden bigger,now, while
I am able too.
I will be able to turn compost for at least 10 more years.
If I am lucky, maybe 15 or 20 years of working a small pile & the garden I will have.
Hopefully, I will have GRANchildren to teach & bribe to help papa some day, too.
I am 50 now, so if I am good & careful I may keep to my plan.
A friend had to stop gardening at 89, because his feet hurt from walking & standing in the garden,he turned 94 in 2010.

"Hopefully, I will have GRANchildren to teach & bribe to help papa some day, too."

joli, You really hit a point on this one. It to me is a must to teach the grandchildren to garden and to grow, to have some skills of what their efforts can provide for their survival if needed.
They must know it CAN be done and have a general concept to do effectivly. They also need to carry the passion to keep passing this skill to even further generations... Who knows what this could mean in the future. In helping papa they will see some of an important (in my mind) attribute even if they never have to touch dirt.

Amen,daguvanuh!