While I was a working stiff one of our hobbies was working in the yard and gardening. It was a welcome escape from a Tech job of sitting in front of a computer and talking on endless conference calls. It was something my wife and I would do together on weekends chatting and pulling weeds or picking the literal fruits of our labor. We both looked forward to spending our increased available time in retirement to feed our passion for gardening and living a healthy lifestyle. But over the years of our retirement we have learned a few things. Here’s some retirement gardening tips and our observations for anyone planning to retire and spending more time in their yard and garden.

Photo Source

Retirement Gardening Tips to Save Money

Having a lush green lawn and a large garden can be costly in both time and money. Many working people have weekly lawn care to trim and mow, raking leaves, trimming bushes. Then there are services for fertilizing the lawn, aerating, spraying and/or pruning fruit trees, and spraying around the house for invasive pests like spiders and beetles. Some of these may have an ongoing contract where they just show up, do it, then send you the bill. When all added up this can run into a lot of money spent to save you time. Time that may be available once you have retired.

Chances are you already have the mower, line trimmer and other tools already sitting in your garage. Buying a couple of tank sprayers, one for weeds and one for insects, and a fertilizer spreader is not very expensive. There are multiple sources online to provide advice on what types of things to use in your area. Not only do you save a considerable amount of money but you also have knowledge and control over what is sprayed in your environment.

If plants get sugar aphids, professional companies would spray chemical insecticide. The problem is it would also kill any ladybugs that may be feeding on them. The aphids can be easily killed if you want to take the time by spraying them off the leaves with high pressure water from the hose. Try to use natural ways to remove pests and lessen the introduction of harmful chemicals to yourself and beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs when you can.

Retirement Gardening Tips to Save Time

Once I retired our lifestyle gradually evolved and we chose to spend much of the summer in our 5th wheel on our lake property. That has pretty much doubled the yard work but cut our time in half to do it.

As for saving time there are things you can consider. As most people, we have automated home sprinklers. That alone still required hand watering certain areas of the yard and garden based on watering needs. So a few years before I retired  I expanded my old system. I had extra zones on the controller box so I separated zones for flower beds, garden and lawns because of their vastly different water requirements. That way I can water my flower beds and garden twice a day for just a few minutes. My lawn is set for longer but only every 3 or 4 days.

This not only conserves water and saves money but also saves time. No more dragging a hose to water-starved plants. Through experimentation I know in the hottest part of the summer just how much water to give my lawn so that it stays green and yet only grows enough that it needs mowing only every 10 to 14 days. I have gladly given up a weekly lawn mowing routine.

Retirement Gardening Tips For Travelers

If your retirement plans include summer travel you might want to consider planting bushes and perennials that bloom at different times and let them become established. They can keep color in your yard year round with minimal care and to the casual observer it will appear you are home. Adding bark mulch around can keep the soil moist. It then requires less water and slows the weeds, or at least make it easier to pull them. Our city has organic mulch and wood chips available at the landfill at very reasonable prices. We have found that between metered watering of our lawn for slower growth, use of mulch to reduce if not eliminate weeds, and strategic planting of flowering bushes, automatic porch light sensors, and light timers within the home, that our home looks occupied for our extended travels spent at the lake.

Planning Your Garden For Your Evolving Retirement Lifestyle

In the past we grew a large garden with many varieties of vegetables. Coming back from the lake to find 20 giant zucchini too big to eat was irritating. Instead of being happy with a bountiful harvest filling the kitchen it just looked like a huge amount of work. We now only plant as much as we plan on eating with the exception of tomatoes. We harvest and either blanch, peel and freeze for use throughout the year, or we can (jar) salsa, chili and pasta sauce.

When planning your garden, check for vegetables that are cheap at the local farmer’s markets or grocery stores. Let them grow it for you instead of wasting your time, money, and garden space. We love homemade pickles. We used to plant pickling cukes and have them mature 5 or 6 at a time and sit in the fridge until we get enough to can. Now when we see them on sale we buy enough to make a dozen quarts of pickles.

We have a small patch of our garden area dedicated to herbs, garlic, green onions, chives and leeks that will grow almost anywhere. We have parsley, sage, rosemary, and yes thyme, as well as oregano and arugula. In the summer we can get a big pot of basil that we harvest 3 or 4 times and use it fresh or freeze it.

Spending Less On Fruit

Another patch in a less visible spot that used to be garden we planted some raspberry and blackberry bushes. They aren’t especially pretty but they provide a steady supply of berries. We have a small peach tree and a dwarf plum. Neither of which require spraying in our area and only have to be pruned once a year. We enjoy the fresh fruit and also make jam with it.

We enjoy many other types of fresh fruit without having to grow them ourselves. That’s because we have neighbors that have apples and pears and we exchange fruit with them. Look around your neighborhood. Ask your friends and family about setting up a fruit exchange and optimize your fruit variety without increasing your spent time and money.

We have found that we can still enjoy our yard and get a bountiful harvest while spending a minimal amount of money on it and only as much time as we would like. These are but a few money and time-saving ideas to consider in your retirement gardening plans. Once retired and your retirement lifestyle becomes more clear, find ways to evolve your gardening passion to align with it.

This article of retirement gardening ideas and tips was written by friend and Leisure Freak reader Ralph Arnold who retired early 8 years ago while in his 40s.

Regardless of your age, there’s nothing better than getting outside, digging in the dirt, and working in the garden. For more gardening info see Gardening Resources for Seniors.