Accessible Gardening: Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners #18, 2 by Amargia

Amargia wrote:
Welcome to the 50+ Club, Carrie. It's a humbling stage of life. From observing Jim, I'd say Tramadol and insomnia magnify the TMB memory issues. (TMB=Too Many Birthdays.) Some days Jim can troubleshoot a complex computer problem with ease and other days he can't remember the names of the most common plants in the garden.
I have no excuse aside from TMB, but on one particularly bad day I couldn’t recall my children’s ages. My daughters teased me about my memory lapse mercilessly for a time by introducing themselves with all their vital statistics whenever they called. On a day when I had exceptionally good mental clarity, I decided to call them and introduce myself. “Hello, this is your mother. The person who labored 20 hours to bring you into the world, changed your dirty diapers, wiped the drool off your chin…… They never mentioned my memory lapse again after that.
Jim has been sleeping well and thinking sharp lately which is why we haven’t been around. He decided to clean up all the computers in the house and re-install. All of Nadi's work related programs and docs have been removed from my computer. I have the new ZoomText keyboard installed that goes with the ZT audio and magnification program. It will make using ZoomText much easier in the long run, but I'm still in the process of learning to use it.
Warm weather has finally arrived. Amargia runs about two weeks behind the surrounding area and Spring was slow to arrive here in general. The bridal wreath spirea bloomed finally, but it wasn't the show stopping display it usually is. It didn't bloom at all last year so I'M' counting my blessings. Jim is pushing again to replace most of the spirea with a shrub possessing multi-season appeal that doesn’t require yearly pruning. If he can come up with such a shrub, I’m open to the idea even though I dread the work involved in making the change. I suspect he will find a way to slip in more of his beloved blueberries. Tomatoes are in the ground at last. Baby fruits of all kinds are in the gardens. I was pleasantly surprised to find immature fruit on the Owari Satsuma mandarin and we will have to thin fruit severely from one peach tree. It can’t possibly bring so many fruit to maturity. The carrots have been a pleasant surprise also. We’ve never had real success growing carrots in the past, but we kept trying because that is a favorite vegetable for all of us. This year’s crop looks good. The excessive rains hit with a double punch. The readily available moisture meant weeds grew fast and dense while the constant rain kept us from working outside. Weeds are taking over! This week it is all about catching up on the weeding and getting ready for the RU.
Eeek! Flash flood warnings again tonight. Better go see what I can do to minimize erosion damage.
mk*
Photos: It may look weedy, but it smells great. Roses and honeysuckle. The last pic is one I took at Buds and Blooms, my favorite local nursery. I like the variegated English box combination. (Jim)