Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[CapricornFarm]

Life is such a struggle! Glad you are working your way through all those problems. My Dad had 3 hip replacements. But the heart surgery did him in. He had a valve replacement, aortic aneurism repair and triple bypass all at once. He lived about a week but i didn't get there in time to tell him goodbye. Very sad. He was no good at tolerating pain.
Any way, i went out and uncovered the veggies so they can get some sun. I should probably water them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Life is definitely short, and hard for many. I have learned to appreciate even the small things these days, and am grateful for each day. Getting my hands in the dirt and growing my own vegetables is one of those things I appreciate being able to do still. Sorry about your dad.

 

[Cryss]

I've gotten through 27 pages here, great stuff! But have yet to see anyone mention Back To Eden gardening. I'm about to turn 67 and am begining this method. No tilling. Do a youtube search on Paul Gautschi. A channel by L2survive has dozens of videos of Paul. Paul is very crippled but does all his gardening himself because its so easy. He grows all his own veggies and fruits and feeds his chickens from his garden. Then his chickens fertilize his garden. He's the reason I got chickens! His trees aren't allowed to grow taller than he can reach and he has too much produce. His first recomendation is plant fruit trees first. I watch many of his videos because each one, although it might repeat stuff, it always has some new insight. Take some time and have a look. If he can garden in hos condition I can garden at my age.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have practiced no till for many years now, everything gets put on top of the beds and the worms do the rest. I guess I tend to forget that other people are tilling and turning the soil since we haven't done it for years.

 

[chickmom3941]

Funny thing about arthritis is exercise both helps it because it strengthens the muscles that support the joint, but it can also wear the joint out too. Hopefully you can put it off. Non weight bearing exercises are best.

I had bad knees for quite a few years, but than I had to go through chemo which caused incredible pain in my legs, especially my left knee. I finally after much complaining to my chemo doctor about it decided to see a knee guy on my own. Both knees are bone on bone but the left I decided to do first because it was more painful. They discovered during the replacement surgery that I had dead bone in my knee probably caused by the chemo.

Right after my surgery I had thought I had made the worse decision in my whole life. I had previously had both shoulders replaced and thought I knew what I was getting into but boy was it rough for those first 3 months. I'm about a year out now, and am grateful I did it. Therapy was hell though, all that forced straightening and bending.

It feels good enough for now to support my other knee which I hope to get another few more years out of before I commit to all that again, but some days are bad enough to think about it.

You will know you need it done when you cannot sleep, and the pain is constant. It's similar to a pounding toothache that never stops. I'm so glad I did it. Hopefully it holds up for a good long time as I'm only 50 and I may need some revisions, but they all have me pegged for a shorter life due to my health problems and conditions. I'm feisty so I plan to prove them wrong, but you never know.

Thanks for your kind words.

You go, girl - keep proving those doctors wrong. They are definitely not always right. You have to be pretty feisty to live in the cold up in these parts, right? Knee replacement sounds like something you don't really want to do, but is beneficial if needed. Hope you don't have to have another one, and hope I can avoid it by doing my therapy, if possible.

Note: Much of Minnesota has a wind chill warning today of at least -40 degrees today. How about you guys? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Update - just watched the news - now they're saying as low as -55 degrees wind chill for my area. I'm only going out to take care of the chickens and that's it!

 

[Cryss]

I have practiced no till for many years now, everything gets put on top of the beds and the worms do the rest. I guess I tend to forget that other people are tilling and turning the soil since we haven't done it for years.

Wood chips on top help keep weeds down cuz the blown in seeds can't reach the soil and germinate and they keep the soil moist. I put wood chips in the chicken run too. Keeps the run dry, no mud. Love Paul Gautschi for gardening info. Love this site for chicken info!

 

[lazy gardener]

Paul is brilliant. I'm slowly converting whole garden to BTE, and have a BTE orchard. However, keeping the chips deep enough, and getting enough to do the initial set up is a challenge. While I was able to get several loads delivered the first year, that is no longer the case, even when the chippers are working on my road. That just ain't fair!!!

 

[chickmom3941]

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure this is a pic of the wheelbarrow Hubs got me for Christmas. He probably won't assemble it till spring, though, unless he's planning to haul snow around the yard - lol. I can't wait for spring!

 

[lazy gardener]

Wouldn't it be cool if they made a wb with skis on it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Wood chips on top help keep weeds down cuz the blown in seeds can't reach the soil and germinate and they keep the soil moist. I put wood chips in the chicken run too. Keeps the run dry, no mud. Love Paul Gautschi for gardening info. Love this site for chicken info!

I put down grass clippings all summer long, we get plenty of them. A thin layer weekly keeps my weeds down as well as planting things close. Anywhere we use wood chips we get lots of weeds no matter how deep. I find it easier to use the constant supply of lawn clipping.