Gardening? Can I still do it?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

As many of you know I have been unable to get down on my knees or bend over for quite a while making it impossible to care for my flower beds.

It broke my heart…the weeds taking over, the annuals not deadheaded, the perennials not tided. The solutions would be 1. Just give up, and just concentrate on my orchids 2. Build raised beds, or 3. Come up with some other garden plan. Hubs and I chose option 3. The photo below is the result.

We dismantled my beds and made a new one with only perennials that can take care of themselves. Hard to distinguish anything right now and it won’t look its best until spring but everything in it is native-ish, self-seeding and requiring very little maintenance. On the left are red salvias, then Mexican hats, next the purple and then grey coneflowers. Next to them are the Blackberry lilies grown from seeds sent by a kind gardener here a few years ago…and I'm ashamed to say I can’t remember who because I adore them. Behind them and left of the Blood Orange are the Blood lilies and across from them are Turk-cap Asian lilies. In front of that the Verbina that was already there and under it the blue-eyed grass. Freezia bulbs were planted anywhere there was a spot. The open dirt area in the front is where marigolds have been self-seeding for years.

I also have two large pots (you can see one to the right in the photo) where I planted more purple coneflowers and freezias and I add zinnias and cosmos in the spring. These pots are easy to care for being up.

The moral of this long missive is meant to encourage those of us who, while getting older and perhaps somewhat disabled, may still be able to enjoy gardening with a bit of planning and some changes.

I don’t know about you but I can’t imagine not having flowers around me.

Featured Answer

bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
Original Author

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Carol I love that little tree too and fingers crossed greening hasn't hit my area yet. I would love it more though if it gave us a nice crop of fruit every year instead of a couple. BTW the green blob to the left of the tree is a rosemary shrub, about 4’ wide x 4’ tall.

Oh well, not complaining…my loquat that started as a 12” seedling I found growing in my yard almost 8 years agois now a 18’ tall gorgeous tree and bears a huge crop each year. It's full of flowers right now and the scent is wonderful!

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Comments (8)

bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
Original Author
2 years ago

For some reason I can’t add the photo above.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
2 years ago
Thanks for the encouragement, bea 🙂

I've been neglecting a lot of yardwork and gardening chores these past 2 years and it's rather depressing. Hoping I can do more going forward. I've managed to clean up my vegetable bed and plant some tomatoes and I started some greens in containers. I'm envious of that blood orange tree - I had a little one that never made it due to greening.
bea (zone 9a -Jax area) thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
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jane__ny
2 years ago
How will you weed the bed?
bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
Original Author
2 years ago
Jane, I hope to have very little if any weeding to do. I planted everything pretty close so hopefully not much space for weeds. When I lived up north I had several cottage style beds and that worked well for weed control. In a few spots where there is open space I planted patches of monkey grass which tends to keep weeds down. As a last resort any weeds that manage to live will meet their demise by my hubby’s hand.
four (9B near 9A)
2 years ago
Long-handled implements. I am handy enough with a shovel that I usually avoid damage. For smaller, sometimes I improvise a long-handled implement from a short-handled one.
jane__ny
2 years ago
I have a large oak and their seeds wind up everywhere, even in my orchid pots. They are impossible to pull out. I have trouble getting down to weed also. I try to grow without any chemicals, but I decided I have to do something to get some weeds which will not pull out.

Bea, I also plant closely but these weeds are horrible, they come up in the middle of the plants. I have those hijacker weeds which are impossible to pull out in my pots! They are in my rose bushes. I bought a small bottle of Round-Up (which I'm embarrassed to admit), and put some in a cup and use a brush to paint the oak leaves and others I can't pull up. I use a brush so I can just get the leaves without effecting the plants I grow. I did that with the tons of ferns which grow in my orchids taking over the pots. I'm careful not to get any near the plants I want.

It helps, but truly doesn't stop them from coming back.

Jane
dirtygardener
2 years ago
Bea, that's what I have been trying to do, create carefree garden beds. The perennial/bulb bed is pretty self-regulating, except for the sweet potato vine that I use for a groundcover and have to cut back from the sidewalk a few times. The other beds are always needing something, though. I'm getting rid of all the ones that take too much work.