How to Keep Gardening Fun and Safe as We Age

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In this episode of The Evergreen Thumb, host Erin Hoover speaks with Sally Bagshaw, a WSU Extension Master Gardener, about adapting gardening practices as we age. Sally shares strategies for maintaining a fulfilling gardening experience despite changes in mobility or strength, such as using raised beds, container gardens, lighter tools, and accessible pathways.

She emphasizes the importance of safety and encourages connecting with the community and seeking help when needed, and highlights how gardening can foster social engagement and mental well-being. Their conversation covers tips for easing maintenance, the value of drought-tolerant and native plants, and creative community projects like rain gardens and indoor bulb arrangements. Sally concludes with encouragement for gardeners of all abilities to keep gardening, adapt as needed, and find joy and support through shared experiences.

Sally is a WSU King County Extension Master Gardener. She is a life-long gardener, having learned her love of gardening from her mother and grandparents in Portland, Oregon. As a member of the Seattle Rose Society, she had 150 rose bushes at the height of her garden and tested roses for Jackson and Perkins and experimented with ways to avoid black spot without harsh chemicals. Since becoming a Master Gardener, Sally has also studied the use of residential rain gardens and creating pollinator pathways with native plants. She is also a certified Master Pruner with Plant Amnesty’s pruning program.

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Transcript

Erin Hoover (00:00)
Welcome to The Evergreen Thumb episode 75. My guest today is Sally Bagshaw. Sally is a WSU Extension Master Gardener in King County, and she’s here today to talk to us about how to adapt while aging in the garden; how to make adjustments to your gardening practices so that you can continue to enjoy being in your garden as you age and as your mobility changes.

Erin Hoover (00:24)
Sally, thank you for joining me today. Welcome.

Sally Bagshaw (00:27)
Thank you, Erin. Glad to be here.

Adapting to Gardening as We Age

Erin Hoover (00:29)
Today, we’re talking about how to adapt in the garden as we age. What are some of the common challenges that gardeners might face as they age that they will need to adapt to?

Sally Bagshaw (00:43)
Well, for starters, our joints don’t work quite as well as they once did. We’re oftentimes not as strong as we were when we were in our 30s. There are a lot of things that we can do. I’d like to go through those specifically, but first, overall, I just want to thank you for having this presentation available to people, because my background has been working with all ages and abilities and encouraging universal design.

And one thing we know is that gardening is one of the very best things we can do throughout our lifetime. But as we age, it is something that keeps us feeling better, keeps us connected with our community. And I really believe that this is one of the best things we can do as Master Gardeners, is encouraging each other to continue to garden.

Priority Changes in the Garden

Erin Hoover (01:33)
Definitely. So how do our priorities change as we age in the garden?

Sally Bagshaw (01:38)
Well, the number one thing that I have told people is make sure that your balance is good because what you absolutely do not want to do is fall. But our priorities are continuing on developing community. And I think that’s something that it gets easily overlooked. That as we get older, sometimes we feel like, well, we’d really just rather stay home than get out and do some of the things that we’ve done in the past.

But very few things are as important as getting fresh air, being outside, moving, and of course growing something just makes you feel good.

So, I would say you start with a commitment that you want to continue to garden, and then we will talk as we go along here today about ways that we can make those gardening habits easier for ourselves.

Erin Hoover (02:16)
Mm-hmm.

Sally Bagshaw (02:31)
And start really from the top in answering your questions. Just don’t anticipate that we’re going to be able to do the same thing that we could do in our 20s and 30s. But we can continue to garden and to be somebody that is a mentor to others.

Raised Bed Gardening and Accessibility Adaptations

Erin Hoover (02:46)
So what are some of those design adaptations or accessibility adaptations? What do some of those look like?

Sally Bagshaw (02:53)
Very specifically, well, you know, people talk about having raised gardens and I think that that can be helpful.

It means that you’re not going to be doing 250 square feet a day in your weeding but having a raised garden where you can put in the kinds of bulbs you want, or annuals in particular, vegetables, if you or even an herb garden can really help. So raised gardens is something that a lot of people look to. I would also just think about what we can do with gardens big and small. You know, it’s interesting because even in a small garden you can raise a lot, and I know some people have been talking about vertical gardens, and you think about planting peas is an example on a vertical garden.

Last year my daughter-in-law and I planted pumpkins on an arch, and I’ll tell you the visuals that we were trying to achieve just looked fabulous. Our actual achievement wasn’t as good as we had hoped, but another year of doing this I think we’ll, you know, have the soil just right and the varieties that we planted.

But I’m also am a huge fan of just basic containers. You can buy container lifts for, you know, like six for twenty-five dollars, and that gives you another six inches to eighteen inches of putting your container on top makes it much easier. And then you get garden soil, potting soil delivered rather than thinking that you’re going to get twenty yards and divide ‘em up three different ways and bring them little by little in your pickup truck. Nope, now’s the time to just recognize that having a bag of potting soil delivered to your deck is much better for us right now.

Accessibility in the Garden

Erin Hoover (04:47)
So what about improving accessibility in the garden?

Sally Bagshaw (04:52)
That’s an interesting thing. Some of my friends have added ramps, whereas before they had big steps.

Now they’ve curved their garden access, added ramps, made pathways, so rather than having things in your way, they either put packed gravel or even stepping stones in the paths. As I mentioned earlier, the big thing is keeping yourself in a position where you are balanced so that you’re not falling. That is the thing that will stop everything faster than anything else. Falling, breaking a hip or worse, breaking your back like my husband did three years ago, and it it just takes a long time to recover.

Erin Hoover (05:36)
It does, it does. So what are some ways that we can ease the maintenance in the garden?

Sally Bagshaw (05:43)
Well, first of all, making it smaller or allowing it to be smaller and not being depressed that you just can’t do as much as you did. A smaller garden could be, as we talked about, containers. It can be vertical gardens, window boxes even. If all else fails, an herb garden inside can be fun to watch.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

And another thing that I really emphasize for folks is don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. There are a lot of people willing to help. Even a strong high schooler can be extremely helpful and come in and help with things like if you’re laying rock.

Two years ago, I created a pollinator pathway in my son and daughter-in-law’s yard. And it was about 200 feet long. Initially getting rock to use as liners, you know, the six-inch kind of, they’re you know, they’re not boulders, but they’re big enough to keep the UPS truck from driving in.

And I needed help and I’ve got three wonderful junior high and high school girls that were ready and willing and I paid them and that well, first of all, it helped me because I couldn’t do it all but having that community and as seniors recognizing that we really have an important role to play as mentors. And there’s very few things more fun than to see somebody spark with an idea like, hey, we could do that.

Garden Safety

Erin Hoover (07:08)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So you mentioned, balance and that’s definitely a safety issue. What other kind of safety issues come into play that maybe, you know, we didn’t think of before?

Sally Bagshaw (07:20)
Yeah. Well, you know, I suspect that people have felt like I’m getting older, so maybe I can’t do this or I can’t be outside in the garden and one of the things that I really emphasize is that it makes you happier just being outside.

Being close to nature, nearby nature is something that our Master Gardener program prioritizes. But being outside and recognize that, okay, well, now I have to wear a hat. Well, I never had to wear a hat before, but now I’m going to wear a hat. Make sure that we got our water bottles close. Take breaks for goodness sake.

You know, I mean many of us would be out there twelve hours in a day easy, you know, start in the morning and go until it was practically beyond dark. And that was something we could do. Now, you know, I’m maybe good for five hours, not twelve, and taking breaks in between, sitting down, getting some water, recognizing that you just need to breathe.

Those are all safety things that we can adapt and they’re fun, just being outside and enjoying that and enjoying the air, listening to the birds, bringing your Merlin app along for goodness sake, and listening to the bird identifiers.

Erin Hoover (08:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, the Merlin app, that’s a good one. We used to use that a lot. Just to identify bird calls and things like that.

Sally Bagshaw (08:43)
Yeah.

Well I’m like the world’s worst birder. I go out with my friends, I can never see them, but I can always hear them and then locate them. But that Merlin app is very helpful. Tell me what I’m looking for.

Tool and Techniques for Gardening Safely with Physical Limitations

Erin Hoover (08:54)
Yeah. So what are what kind of tools are available to help with like physical strain or physical limitations?

Sally Bagshaw (09:00)
Well, yeah, you know, people talk about getting a good trowel and having a hori hori knife that you can carry on your belt. They’re smaller, you can buy ones that are padded in the handles, getting yourself a good pair of pruners and keeping them sharp. Those make a lot of difference for your wrist, for your hand strength.

But I also gave up the gasoline-powered chainsaw. We’ve got an electric chainsaw. I can use that still. And it isn’t that hard, it’s fairly light and it’s a type of tool that I find very helpful in the garden when I’m doing heavier things.

Erin Hoover (09:40)
Yeah, we got rid of our gas-powered chainsaw too. Even with the battery, it’s still, the chainsaw’s still lighter than a gas one. So gas, I mean, even you know, weed eaters, electric weed eaters…

Sally Bagshaw (09:46)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You’re right, Erin. And some people say, well, they’re not as powerful, and in many cases, they aren’t, but they’re powerful enough. And that’s what I’ve found has been really useful is tools that work for me now are lighter than they used to be.

Erin Hoover (10:07)
Mm-hmm. I’ve also seen there’s a type of a pruner where the, um, one of the handles, instead of being just both handles being straight, one of them it kind of rotates so that you don’t need the grip strength to be able to make the cut. Yeah, I mean you don’t need as much grip strength.

Sally Bagshaw (10:18)
Right. Yeah. Right. Interesting. I’ve seen those. I’ve not used them, but it sounds like a good idea.

Erin Hoover (10:30) Mm-hmm. I think Felco makes they make both right and left-handed. yeah, a Master Gardener was showing to me. She had and she was showing me how they how they the grip side rotates and she says it takes a little getting used to, but once you get used to it, it makes a huge difference in your ability to, you know, the need for grip strength and, you know, how much your hand gets tired while you’re pruning.

Watering Techniques and Planting Strategies as We Age

Sally Bagshaw (10:34)
Interesting. Right, right. Well, that’s a good one. That’s a good tip. I’ve said, I haven’t used that, but it sounds like an excellent idea.

One of the obvious things people have talked about is watering can be a chore. And I do my most of my gardening in Lake City. My kids have a house that’s on Thornton Creek and spend a lot of time there. And thankfully some of the neighbors have been really kind about allowing hoses to be connected from their water source to this pollinator pathway as an example.

On my balcony, we live in, my husband and I are in a downtown condo, I just have a smaller watering can.

We definitely need water on the deck. We don’t have any other source than just bringing it in the kitchen. But having something that I can lift is I think very valuable. Not doing, trying, the five gallon one, but let’s try, a you know, a two gallon one. Makes a lot of difference. It’s ten pounds rather than twenty-five.

Erin Hoover (11:47)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right. So, what other kind of watering techniques can gardeners use to help make gardening more comfortable for them?

Sally Bagshaw (11:59)
Yeah.

Well, the Rain Bird systems they’re black plastic hoses, and you put these other little pipes to the various plants. It’s kind of, it’s I would say it’s a bit of a challenge to get it all in, but this is our third season.

I did it using one of those padded stools that you can flip over, and you can put your knees on them or you can flip it the other direction and just sit down. I found that as much as I wanted to just be on my knees, that doesn’t work for me anymore. So I had the stool, got this little black pipe in.

And it saves water, which is super. The little pipes can go directly to the base of a plant. That helps. It’s also really good because you’re not watering leaves, and you know how black spot and mildew and other things can get started most when you’re watering from the top. So watering from the bottom and then making it easier to access the hose, whatever your fittings are, that certainly helps.

Erin Hoover (12:55)
Mm-hmm. What about like some planting or other maintenance techniques and how we can make those a little more comfortable?

Sally Bagshaw (13:11)
Yeah, well, good luck with that, right? We still have to be down low to get things planted properly. You know, if you’re planting your trees, make sure that the flare is above the the soil line. But I found out using native plants, perennials in particular, as I mentioned, this pollinator garden really relies on a lot of plants that are drought tolerant like the lavender, and it has filled in.

You know, early on it was it was fun. I looked back on it to see what we had planted and it looked pretty sparse even though I thought we were doing pretty well to keep it looking good from the first year. But now it’s filled in and it’s hard to even see what originally went in. And it’s just full of color. We try to keep the weeds out, so it doesn’t look messy. But focusing more on native plants, perennials, and drought-tolerant plants is certainly a good starting point.

Erin Hoover (14:13)
I the expect they need less watering and less maintenance all around if they’re natives.

Sally Bagshaw (14:18)
What most I mean, you take something like a fern, and you better have that out of the sun, but watering it much less frequently and deeply, they seem to do well.

Erin Hoover (14:29) Mm hmm.

Strategies to Reduce Strain in the Garden

So we talked about some tools. What are some other like just general strategies in the garden to help reduce strain or be more comfortable?

Sally Bagshaw (14:39)
I think we’ve really covered a lot, I really emphasize getting help. You know, there are a lot of volunteers, a lot of volunteer organizations that are willing to come to a senior’s home. Organizations that focus on aging and disability. There’s, they often have a list of people that would like to participate.

Another thing which may or may not be useful for everyone but we’re seeing more seniors inviting roommates and I was involved in a program in Boston just a few years ago where graduate students were looking for housing, people that were going through transition, whether they’d lost a spouse or whether they were finding themselves at a point where they were giving up full time employment, would invite somebody to be with them. They’d have a spare bedroom or maybe even a s whole spare attic area that could be turned into it. And then they would negotiate what the people would do in exchange for reduced rent.

And gardening was one of the things that folks got engaged in and then it was very fun for them because now you got a pal. You got a pal who’s doing some of the heavier work, doing some of the lifting that you don’t feel like you can do, even some of the transplanting things, just having a buddy around and I’m a huge fan of this shared housing and just thinking about what people can do for each other.

Encouragement for Gardeners Keep Gardening

Erin Hoover (16:09)
All right. So do you have any words of encouragement for gardeners who are trying to adapt to their changing physical abilities and stay connected in the garden?

Sally Bagshaw (16:22)
Well, for sure. Starting with small to begin with and figure out what’s going to work for you. And if somebody’s just feeling beleaguered because they can’t do it by themselves, that’s where you ask for help.

And then sit down and look at your space and figure out what you’ve got. Do you need to add containers? Need to add raised beds? Do you want to change something out that you may have loved, but it might be harder for you because it requires more maintenance? Just think about first of all your space, what you can do with it, what you might like to change out.

A good friend of ours, it was a former law partner of my husband, is now living in Park Shores. And last fall I wrote an article about him, and it was published in our Master Gardener newsletter. Ted is in a wheelchair and has been all of his life, all of his professional life. And he when he moved into Park Shores with his wife they wanted to put dahlias in because dahlias is as all of us know, if you’ve got a good sunny spot, they’re some of the easiest plants to grow.

And initially management was like, well, maybe that’s not fair to other gardeners, but he kept at it and finally persuaded them “Well, we’ll pay for it. We’ll buy the tubers. We’ll do it”.

And he had another friend who was actually a professor at the UW who’d moved into Park Shores. The two of them put in this splendid area for dahlias. And everybody in this, it’s a senior living facility, and they love it and they come out, and some of them that want to help, help, some of them will be working with pruning. But it made just a giant difference that here they had a vision they worked with.

With the management of the organization to say, hey, we can do this. And it’s just it not only has created this beautiful southern buffer of, and they have all kinds. I think they have 50 different varieties of dahlias out there growing, but people just come out and enjoy it.

And then there’s a group that loves doing indoor floral arrangements, and they’ve been granted access to go cut, cut the dahlias and bring them back inside. I mean, what a fabulous community effort.

Erin Hoover (18:44)
Yeah, I was just thinking that it sounds like they managed to build more community within their housing situation to, you know.

Sally Bagshaw (18:49)
Yeah, absolutely.

And it’s the funniest thing I know that some folks, after they retire, they feel like, well, what am I going to do now?

Sometimes it’s difficult to switch gears. So I mean, some of us have had careers that took much of our time. Now it’s like, okay, well what are we going to do? And that’s where I think gardening is so fantastic, because you can do it anywhere if you’ve got a backyard.

Lucky you. If you don’t and you have decks, that’s where your containers come in. If you want to sign up with your Master Gardeners to do some weeding in the arboretum, I mean, godspeed, everything is valuable, but anytime that you’re working with other people, you bring your skills to them and they share with you. And nothing could be more important right now to avoid loneliness, especially as you’re getting older.

Actionable Steps to Keep Gardening

Erin Hoover (19:46)
Definitely, definitely. So, what would you say would be one or two key actionable items that gardeners could do right now

Sally Bagshaw (19:53)
Well, just I think getting on a schedule because if you don’t have a schedule, then it’s too easy to say, I’m just going to stay home today. I don’t really feel like it. So, if you have a P Patch as an example, or even just getting on the list to get on, get your own P Patch, and then you’ve got a rhythm of you’re going and seeing people, you’re out there, you’re taking care of your plants.

Local groups, I mean like man, Master Gardeners, as we all know, not only are you constantly learning, but you can be involved in things like we just did a pop-up clinic in at Lake Union Park, at South Lake Union this last weekend. And it was amazing. It was the first time that we’d ever done it down there. And how many people came and asked questions? It was like, wow, Master Gardeners have come here to us? That, just again, that engagement.

Prioritizing these group activities where you are together with people. I just cannot underscore how important that is. I think that and I don’t put myself at the top of the list. I’m still learning how to use all of the technology that is available to us. Whether you know how to get yourself onto Teams and Zoom to communicate with other gardeners, I think I again this is just common sense about staying engaged.

And then if there’s something that is like you don’t know, just to ask questions about it. But I really though I mean those are kind of five fast ones that I just threw out, which is you schedule routine check-in with people, you join local groups like Master Gardeners prioritizing these group activities.

So that it is on, I’ve got in my calendar, I put things in red that I really am going to do, and nothing is going to get in the way of that. It really helps me prioritize, which is okay, it’s important that I’m having this conversation with Erin at 1:30 today. And nothing else is going to get in the way. I just I’m a huge believer in volunteering.

Maybe you don’t have the challenging career that you once did, but you’ve got skills and those skills are needed. Somebody needs what you know, and just to have that in our pocket and to recognize that we have value, we have value all the way. I mean, as long as we’re alive, we’re valuable.

Erin Hoover (22:26)
I think that’s one of the reasons why a lot of, you know, Master Gardeners are mostly retirees, is because they’re looking to share their expertise and their knowledge. But also when you become a Master Gardener, I mean you know that you’re in a community of people, you have something in common with all of them because you’re all gardeners.

Sally Bagshaw (22:43)
Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Final Thoughts about Adapting in the Garden

Erin Hoover (22:44)
Anything else that you’d like to add about adapting in the garden?

Sally Bagshaw (22:50)
Well, you know, you’ve asked very good questions, and I think that we’ve touched on it. We could go deeper on everything. I mean, I can give you a couple of examples on building community. We have a Master Gardener who is about fifty years younger than many of us, and he has his own landscaping business, but he is extremely strong. Hiring him to come out and help me plant was one of the best investments that I’ve made last year. And I think that the community is important, and recognizing and knowing who else is available to come out and help is really important.

Rain Gardens and Community Development

Erin Hoover (23:29)
Definitely. Any other thoughts or anything else you want to take a little deeper dive into?

Sally Bagshaw (23:35)
Well, let’s talk about rain gardens for a second because talk about about community development. I’m definitely a learner in this arena, but it’s something I’ve been working on for almost twenty years now.

Erin Hoover (23:39)
Okay.

Sally Bagshaw (23:53)
And seeing what somebody can do with a space where you’re dealing with runoff, you are keeping, and just look at residential. But just the Rain Garden and Washington State University Extension have some of the best information on how to develop them. And I love the notion of doing this in your yard or in your parking spaces because neighbors get engaged in that, and we had seven, eight, nine people who had never done anything like this come out and say, okay, well, how’s this working? And you know, where’s that water going? What kind of plants are you planting, and how are you going to take care of them?

And just talking about you know, you need more rain-tolerant, wet-tolerant plants at the at the at the basin of what you’re doing, and the drier drought-tolerant plants up on top. And it just looks so great, and the community is engaged in that. I just love it.

And when we did it, we got some of the stronger guys to do the digging and then others of us who were going to be doing the planting showed them what to do and how to do it and they were just involved and then the kids got involved, you know, and people are like seeing that this is part of our neighborhood and we’re in this together and I really like

Erin Hoover (25:12)
Yeah, we have a Master Gardener in Grays Harbor County who built a rain garden next to her house to deal with the roof runoff, and just knowing the intricacies of how much planning it takes to properly size a rain garden to be able to ensure that the water it infiltrates and everything.

She really enjoys sharing the rain garden, and she’s very passionate about how the rain gardens work and sharing the all that knowledge.

Sally Bagshaw (25:42)
That’s you know, that’s the best. That’s just the kind of community you want to develop. And I’m just so pleased with the work that we’ve been able to do out in Lake City. It was a neighborhood that really was not very neighborly and now things are changing. And it’s very cool to see people engaged, bringing their kids over, kids getting to know other kids and you know it’s a special place and it’s all around the gardens.

Erin Hoover (26:11)
Yeah, great.

Herb Gardens in Pots to Bring Plants Inside

Sally Bagshaw (26:13)
I’ve got some good friends who really aren’t able to get outside, do much bending or lifting anymore. So we bought pots to them for inside herb garden. One of the things that we did last year for Christmas presents was make what we called bulb lasagnas, but you get big pots, and we bought most of them from Goodwill or estate sales.

And made a I think we made 33 of them and then gave them away, full of tulips, and daffodils, and muscari, you know, the little grape hyacinths. So people who might not have been able to get out themselves had something inside to enjoy. If they had a spot putting them outside on their deck, that’s even better because they, you know, things grow a little bit more slowly and they do better. But I’m just such a fan of what we did with those bulb baskets because it was really cheering up a lot of people.

Erin Hoover (26:47)
Mm-hmm. Mm. I’m sure, yeah. That little pop of color in the spring.

Sally Bagshaw (27:13)
You see start coming up, you know, after Christmas, and you’re just watching and seeing what comes, and then all of a sudden, you’ve got daffodils, and then two weeks later you’ve got tulips, and the grape hyacinths are just providing some love. Yeah, it’s a good thing.

Erin Hoover (27:28)
All right. Any other final thoughts?

Sally Bagshaw (27:30)
No, but I really want to thank you for this opportunity and encouraging people, just don’t give up. You know, we’re at a point in our lives where things are harder, but we can figure out ways to do it and figure out how we can help others.

Erin Hoover (27:43)
All right. Well, thank you so much for being here today. This was a great conversation.

Sally Bagshaw (27:46)
Great Erin, thank you so much.