“Never yet was a springtime, when the buds forgot to blow.” – Margaret Elizabeth Sangster.

“That is one good thing about this world… There are always sure to be more springs.” – L.M. Montgomery.

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” – Rainer Maria Rilke.

“The promise of spring’s arrival is enough to get anyone through the bitter winter!” – Jen Selinsky.

“Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” – Algernon Charles Swinburne.

“April prepares her green traffic light, and the world thinks: Go.” – Christopher Morley.

“I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather that God has to offer.” – Dodie Smith.

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood.

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Stay gardening longer: Solutions for senior gardeners. There comes a time in every senior gardener’s life when climbing the stairs to the second floor becomes a chore. At the same time, your favorite activity, gardening, is becoming more tiring. Family and friends may be urging you to downsize, but the thought of not gardening at all isn’t an option.

Arguably, the most tiring work you have to do in your landscape is tending to your annuals and perennials. The best adaptive gardening technique for dealing with aggressive perennials is to replace them with shrubs and/or dwarf conifers. Instead of having to dig up your perennials and divide them every year or two, you’ll only have to prune shrubs once a year and dwarf conifers even less. The best adaptive gardening technique for annuals is to grow them only in containers.

Tending annuals in traditional in-ground beds is time-consuming and can be painful for many senior gardeners. It involves hours on your aging knees or bent over to plant, weed, and deadhead them. The containers you use for annuals may be decorative pots, elevated beds, window boxes, hanging baskets, and anything else you can think of. The only caveat that I can offer is that containerized plants have to be watered more often than in-ground plants.

Don’t plant directly into decorative containers. Rather, buy them and plant them in nursery pots that will fit into the decorative container. That cuts down on heavy lifting. Put the decorative container in place and then slip the nursery pot into place. This works with elevated beds and window boxes, too. If, during the season, a plant dies or becomes unproductive, you can just swap that plant out without disturbing the others. At the end of the season, you can just empty the nursery pot and save it for next season, rather than having to clean out the heavier decorative container. And, you’ll be keeping plastic pots out of a landfill.

If you have a large vegetable garden out in the “back 40,” downsize it to a size that produces only the amount of produce you need to feed your empty nest. Also, move it close to the house – a kitchen garden. Then you only have to step out the back door to harvest tonight’s dinner, rather than trudging out to the former location. This also results in less work tending the garden.

Make greater use of containers, including pots, elevated beds, and raised beds, even for your vegetable garden. I prefer elevated beds (those on legs) to raised beds. You can tend them sitting down. Pots are easy to tend to. You can stand or sit to plant them and then put them on wheeled plant caddies to move around.

Don’t downsize, rightsize: Senior gardening on your terms. As you can see, you don’t have to fret about moving from your happy place to a place you dread as aging begins to restrict your activities. You can choose the option that allows you to live your life in the environment you love, whether that’s new or right where you are.

So, don’t be concerned about downsizing when you can plan for the next chapter of your life by rightsizing, regardless of what’s right for you.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10. “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:11. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10.