By Victoria Torley

Sometimes, I just feel old. The other day, someone helped me button my sleeve when she saw I was having trouble.

Okay, it’s a little button and little things are difficult if you have arthritis, but what about the garden? My gardener is in cahoots with Metric Man to keep me from doing too much. The problem is that their definition of “too much” and my definition of “too much” are quite a bit different.

The other day, I managed to sneak in three hours of gardening transplanting, potting, repotting, fertilizing, and generally making a mess before anyone stopped me.

Then it was time to hit the pool. Don’t worry, I scraped most of the dirt off first.

I used to garden in my bathing suit and shorts in Georgia so I could just shed the shorts and jump but I can’t do that here.

The tropical sun is too fierce and even with sunscreen, I occasionally end up the color of fried chicken. Even my scalp gets sunburned. Hence my new hat.

But out of the pool and back to feeling old. Old as in your knees ache and your back hurts from too much bending. Old as when you squat down to move a potted plant and can’t get back up again. What’s an old gardener to do?

Well, first I suggest a walking stick, not a cane. According to the orthopedist, a cane puts you in a slight bend and warps muscles. A nice tall walking stick is an aid that you can grasp at waist or shoulder height and with either hand or both.

Second, I would suggest a potting bench at the same height as the kitchen counter. Get someone else to lift a big pot of soil to the bench and then do your thing with the seeds and cuttings. I have a bench in the greenhouse and it is a great help.

If the problems are really serious, get someone to build you elevated beds. Not a little raised bed with soil piled a foot high, a really solid elevated bed so the plants are at waist height or more. Three or four courses of concrete block usually do it. Punch through some drainage holes and start layering. Gravel at the bottom and your good soil on the top. Keep the bed about 3 feet wide and you can reach everything easily.

Now, about those pesky weeds that need pulling. They have invented something with wheels called a Swivel Scoot. Just sit on it and ride from one bed to the next and a contraption to kneel on with handles to help you push yourself up!

What will they think of next?

Plant for the week. The Fountain Plant (Amaranthus tricolor) is an edible amaranth used in salads. It was originally from South America but is now a worldwide cultivar.  The plant is grown in sun and shade for its wonderful color but it is also a remarkable fixer of C4 – removing carbon from the atmosphere at an efficient rate compared to other plants.

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Find more interesting stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the AM Costa Rica Garden page. Questions on this article, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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