Library Book - A Review

https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Lifetime-Garden-Wiser-Older/dp/1604692669/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547510053&sr=8-1&keywords=gardening+for+a+lifetime

Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older, by Sydney Eddison, 2010, Timber Press, Inc.

This book was not what I thought. A very well written book over a period of time, however, the author takes the reader through how she downsized her garden, especially after her husband’s death. It has left me sad inside. I’m sure it will take me a while to shake off this feeling.

But, because of reading through it, I know not to ever plant daylilies. (It’s on the “toxic” to chickens list anyway.)

In her last chapter she quotes Violinist Itzhak Perlman: “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”

Then adds in her own words:

Making the most of what you have left is also the older gardener’s task. How beautiful can you make your garden with the resources you still have at your command?

With me starting what I’m calling the West Yard Project at 65 6/12 years young, I will take her “gleanings” i.e. lessons learned to heart that she offered at the end of each chapter. And, I totally agree with her suggestion about making to-do lists for the garden’s maintenance and care needs.

If I were not so committed to doing this garden after all these years of wanting, this book would have certainly caused me to take a step back and ask myself, Really?