Gardening Tips and Tricks for Spending-Savvy Seniors
Keeping up with your landscape can get more challenging in your senior years. When you’re ready to spend more time enjoying your garden and less time laboring in it, there are a lot of things you can do to improve your circumstances. Here are some ideas that are easy on your knees, your back, and your wallet.
Bring Your Garden to You
Getting up and down off the ground gets harder as we age. However, as some experts point out, you can reduce your stooping and bending with raised beds. You can also aim for more accessible gardening with smart equipment choices, such as a rolling garden seat. Tools can be a boon, too. There are pruners, spades, and dibbers that are easier on arthritic hands, thanks to ergonomic designs and lightweight materials. You don’t need to spend a bundle upgrading your gardening beds, tools, and supplies. First, check into savings and money-saving offers for home improvement stores like Lowe’s, so you can make your dollars go further.
Things Keep Looking Up
Trellises offer smart gardening advantages to seniors. Not only can you tend your plants from a standing position, they take up a minimal footprint in your garden. While you could stick with climbing flowers like sweet peas or clematis, DIY Network suggests some vegetables or fruits, such as melons, beans, squash, or cucumbers. Not only do you get to enjoy gardening, but you can also save a bit on your grocery bills and savor nutritious, fresh foods. For trellises, fertilizers, edging and other handy supplies for setting up your vertical garden, you can grab discounts, coupon codes and special online deals for stores like Gardener’s Supply.
Plant Perennials
Reducing the amount of labor you put into your landscape and garden can mean spending more time sipping tea and watching your flowers bloom. Bob Vila suggests planting some well-chosen perennials. Perennials come back year after year so you don’t need to plant new ones each growing season. If you do a little looking to ensure you match the plant’s needs with the location and select durable options, you can add blooms to your landscape without adding labor. Another suggestion is to prioritize using native plants in your flower beds. They tend to tolerate your climate well, are relatively pest-resistant, and require minimal upkeep. Join websites like Honey, which will search online for the best deals available for whatever you’re looking for.
Good for You
Gardening offers many important health benefits. It can also raise your self-esteem, increase your physical activity, and lower stress levels. According to some experts, working in your landscape can help keep you strong and flexible through your senior years. However, it’s important to stay safe while working in the garden. Ensure you drink enough water, avoid getting overheated, and dress appropriately for the weather conditions. If it’s time to invest in some better work clothes, gardening gloves, or a good, insulated water bottle, you can find in-store offers, coupon codes, and weekly sales for retailers like Target.
Smart Hardscaping
Simply reducing the amount of landscape you need to tend means cutting down on your work, as well as the amount of fertilizer, weed killer, grass seed, and other products and supplies necessary for keeping things looking sharp. The Spruce suggests reducing your lawn to a minimum. What you replace the grass with is up to you, but one suggestion is to create an outdoor living space. Installing a beautiful patio and adding comfortable outdoor furniture allows you to spend more time lounging in the great outdoors, rather than sweating on a riding mower.
Your garden and landscape don’t need to be hard work. Spending time in your garden is good for you, but it’s important to do it safely and enjoy it. You can ease your maintenance burden and stretch your dollars with a few clever choices.
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