Free book Friday!

Steve Engel says:

A gentlemen and an friend from Fountain Valley ca has a large garden in his back yard that he has been working for years.  He is in his 90’s and still going strong.  Grows enough fruits and vegtables for his family and most of the neighborhood.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:29 am.

Linda Mendelssohn says:

My grandfather who lived in England…he grew the best raspberries and we would have them for tea.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:39 am.

Megan says:

When I first started gardening, I was 19 years old. I moved into an old house that had what used to be a vegetable garden. I decided to dig out the weeds and start using it again. It turned out there were already a lot of plants there, like a huge rhubarb, raspberries, a saskatoon bush, etc. One of the neighbors, who was an old man who had lived in the neighborhood his entire adult life had known the previous owners (they had also lived in the house for 50+ years) and he wanted to know if he could take some of the rhubarb. I said he could on the condition that he showed me how to harvest it. He was extremely pleased and ended up spending a few hours there that afternoon telling me about the garden and the previous owners. The house and the garden are long gone, but I’ll always remember that old man and what he taught me that summer that I learned to garden - it really showed me the value of passing down knowledge.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:39 am.

Jennifer says:

My grandfather “Poppy”, he lived to 102! And I am still planting sweet peas every year from his original plants.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:42 am.

Kylee Baumle says:

The oldest gardener I ever knew and still know is my 97-year-old grandma. She can’t garden in a real garden anymore, but she always has a plant in her assisted living room. Some of the best stories she has ever told me were the ones about her gardening adventures when she grew food for her family. I learned a lot about the back-to-basics way of doing things from her!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:51 am.

Denise says:

Our down-the-street neighbor, Ken is 103.  The last gardening he was able to do without assistance was pruning his roses this last season.  He is an inspiration to all our neighbors and just an adorable person.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:52 am.

Ellen B. says:

My husband’s grandmother. She was digging in her compost pile into her late ‘80s.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:53 am.

Sydney says:

OK…I moved to 8,000 ft. altitude in Colorado on 2.5 acres for my dogs (I raise and show Havanese) and to grow most of my own food to avoid GMO food.
I learned something about nature in moving here.  when there is only 1 tree on the property, the wind is so strong that young trees can’t survive.  They dry out, and your house fills up with dirt 18 hours or less.
I also learned that very little grows at such high altitude.  I planted trees - died.  I planted Blue Spruce - died.  I planted Low Grow Low Maintenance Grass - GREW!  But only on the North.  I planted Hollyhocks - GREW!  But voles digging around them - will die. In addition, we are not allowed to use our water outside, so I have to be careful to camoflage my garden.
Determined to succeed, I’m thinking about digging a trench around the perimeter of my ‘new’ garden, and fencing it with chicken wire buried in the trench to keep voles away and above ground to keep rabbits out. On rare occasions, I have some deer and antelope on my property and not sure how to solve that problem.  I might consider a chainlink surround bolted to the ground or buried in that trench (frequent winds 70+mph).  You can see house at http://www.wowhavanese.com.  What do you think?
Sent photo of current garden, which is a starter box and 3 packages of HEIRLOOM TOMATO SEEDS!!!!!
I NEED this book!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:53 am.

Lydia Plunk says:

Gardeners don’t get old. We just get wrinkled and scratched.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:56 am.

Rebecca Walker says:

My aunt, who is turning 90 next month, still gardens in her raised bed.  She has the tastiest heirloom tomatoes ever!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:07 am.

tali says:

my grandparents grew their own produce well into their 90s. i remember them germinating seeds at their dinning room table, and inspecting their riches. meals always included their bounty. thanks for the memories.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:07 am.

Bonnie Livingston says:

My great aunt who gardened along with her sister who was my great grandmother in their homes garden each day. Both were widows and I can still picture them out in the garden in their huge wide rimmed straw hats and gardening gloves on! They used to let me plant sweet peas with them. Both ladies were in their late 80’s and very active. My father-in-law who lived to 98 and still worked in his garden every day would have liked these ladies!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:09 am.

Suzanne Dalla Betta says:

I knew Bea Grow, who I enjoyed talking to so much when she would come to visit me at Plant Depot. She had an amazing life, gardening everywhere she could. She generously shared her passion for gardening and unending knowledge with me every time we talked.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:09 am.

Susy Stone says:

My grandma gardened into her upper 80’s. When we closed down her townhouse, we found an old wheel borrow that was rusted through but still in use. She had it filled with coffee cans that were filled with the compost she was still making from kitchen scraps. She has been gone for twenty years and I still miss her on a daily basis!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:10 am.

Marianne West says:

Frank. I go to a weekly gardening class at the senior center (I am not a senior). The class is full. 70 people or more, many older. We hardly ever even get to the topic of the day, because we are busy asking questions (and answering what we know or have experience with), bring in plants, cuttings, books and harvest in to share and of course talk about what we have on the sharing table. The other day, we got to celebrate Frank’s 100 s Birthday with cake!!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:18 am.

Laura M says:

I live in Laguna Beach, CA…so of course Hortense Miller is the oldest gardener I ever knew. She gardened for decades on acreage here in town where she and her husband had built a mid century modern home.  She lived and gardened for almost 100 years and left her home and garden to the city of Laguna Beach.  Wonderful low key tours can be booked through the city and led by docents;  such a respite from the usual barrage of OC tourist attractions!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:21 am.

Debo says:

Had to be my 90 year old grandfather from Louisiana.  We loved all of his vegetable growing up as a kid, but the pecan tree we used to climb is a stand out in my memory.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:22 am.

Connie Beck says:

All I grow are heirlooms and it has been a fantastic experience since I started being a “purist” a few years ago.  I save all my own seed so that I will eventually have plants that are totally adapted to my microclimate.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:27 am.

Jill Patterson says:

My grandmother lived to 105 years and gardened until she was over 100.  She was the one to inspire me to garden and gave me plants from her yard as a start.  Even though she lived in an apartment, she had the most beautiful borders.  I learned about fuchsias (which I called “upside down flowers”) and Johnny-jump-ups from her.  She was not a nice person, but she was an amazing woman. I would love to learn more about heirlooms.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:40 am.

The Victorian Librarian says:

The oldest gardener I know is my 96 year old Grandma. She was the first passionate gardener I knew who spent days at a time in her garden. I learned from her how to look after strawberries and take care of roses. She is now in a retirement home and has no garden of her own, but still knows exactly what she likes in houseplants and flowers, teaching me how to do flower arranging.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:44 am.

Carol R. says:

I feel lucky to have had so many grandparents, great aunts and uncles who were always so happy to show me their latest crops of fruits, veggies, and flowers. Everytime I work with artichokes I think of my father’s mother and hers; grapes I think of my mother’s great aunts and uncles and their juicy juice-making operations (and cherry cordials).Sweet pea flowers graced my great uncle’s adobe ranch tables.I wonder if they knew how their enthusiasm would be passed on?

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:46 am.

Sharon says:

These are wonderful stories!

When I was young, my parents left my younger brother and me for a week in the summer with one of their friends’ grandmother, who looked very elderly to us.  She lived in an older home that had a little, old-fashioned bathroom that had been added on.  The door was short and narrow, as she was a tiny woman.  My brother and I giggled and chanted to each other, “Fatty, fatty, two by four, can’t get through the bathroom door!” the first glimpse we got of it.  She had no television, so we read for the week.  She made the best homemade chocolate pie for supper! 

Every morning, she would put on her old-fashioned calico sun bonnet and go out the back door into a wonderland of beautiful, old-fashioned flowers, with a vegetable garden from which she harvested the veggies she prepared for that day’s dinner.  When I was in my twenties and saw a picture of Tasha Tudor, I immediately thought of Mrs. Patton.

Even though I initially felt bored in this little house that was a step-back-in-time, it turned out to be a lovely week and I hold the memory of her wonderful backyard cottage garden in my mind.  It made me appreciate several other old-fashioned backyard gardens kept by old people in our neighborhood.

Before Mrs. Patton died, my family was invited to attend a family gathering of her eight children, who were wealthy farmers, and their families; and someone asked her a question about how old she had been when she married.  She talked about marrying at fifteen and starting out with nothing.  I was both surprised and tickled when she said,  “We learned that you can’t live on love - and we tried!”

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:48 am.

Jen Thompson says:

Wayne Daniels is our neighbor - he’s 75 and plants up to 4,000 tulip bulbs in his Fullerton, CA, front yard. This year, he got a lot of us up the street to plant tulips ourselves - it’s practically Holland around here.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:55 am.

Karen says:

My Grandfather, who gardened until he was 95 years old!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:57 am.

Claudia says:

The oldest gardner"s” I’ve ever known are the seniors at the Cordova Senior Activities Center - some of them are in their 90s.  We started a garden in 2010 with 14 beds and lots of vegetables.  Last year, the seniors helped prepare the soil, plant the vegetables, maintain the garden, and eat the produce in our Wednesday Green Thumb Garden Club lunch program.  We’ve already made plans for this year and will begin planting in a few weeks.  We meet monthly and discuss gardening issues, both at the Center and at home - I provide tips based on information I read in books such as this one.  I’m a youngster compared to them (I’m in my 60s) and they keep me hopping as the “Head Thumb.”

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:58 am.

tj says:

...Right now?  Me. :o)

...Would adore this book.  Thank you so much for the giveaway!

...Have a spectacular weekend!

...Blessings :o)

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:02 am.

Daisy S. says:

My husband’s aunt and uncle, who were my inspiration.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:13 am.

Jean says:

My friend Harry is 95 and still very active in his yard growing tomatoes in large pots. His neighborhood has been all industrialized except for his house. Yeh, Harry!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:14 am.

Steve Gerischer says:

My Grandpa, Ernest Gerischer. Used to scavenge old screen doors from trash to build ‘screen boxes’ for the strawberries (‘Keep out the damned squirrels and birds!’). And he would NOT attend a family reunion in Utah because his vegetable garden was coming ready for harvest!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:15 am.

Mia says:

Oldest gardener is ...MEEEE! Today is my birthday, so that makes me older than ever! Happy Friday everyone!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:21 am.

Leslie says:

My neighbor gardened into her late 90’s and I loved to stop by on the way to work each morning and admire her garden.  Her tomatoes were the best!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:28 am.

Mary says:

His name was Adolf….He had the neatest garden and worked in it everyday until he was in his 90’s.  He wasn’t a very friendly man but his garden vegetables sure loved him….the way he took care to see that they had plenty of water, great dirt, lots of sunshine…I loved when he would tie silver aluminum pie pans on wooden stakes to ward off the crows.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:49 am.

Greg Stevenson says:

I think her name was Victoria. She lived in Anaheim, CA and was in her late 80s last time I saw her. Very energetic for her age and had a wonderful garden. Emphasis on begonias and impatiens. She opened her garden once a year to the public to share/sell her efforts.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:51 am.

Betty says:

My 93 year old friend who always had sweet peas, or whatever was available in season, to give too anyone who came by to visit.  I love gardening because of her.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:07 am.

Melanie says:

The aptly-named Rose, a Master Gardener in my hometown, is perhaps the oldest gardener I know!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:38 am.

Margie says:

My Gramps worked for Northwestern Bell by day; but come evenings and weekends, Gramps toiled in the soil. Gramps cultivated an 80’x 120’ plot of dirt he leased in St. Paul, MN. He harvested so many tomatoes and vegetables that the Nuns started complaining he was giving them too much. My family lived 30 miles away in Minnetonka. Yet, Gramps always found the time to drive out for a visit and deliver fresh vegetables and fruit.

He worked in his garden until diabetes complications rendered him an amputee in his late 80’s. After Gramps’ funeral service, three nuns walked up to me offering condolences and shared memories about the convent pantry, saying it was overflowing with canned tomatoes, cherries and other vegetables.

Gramps, rest in peace behind the pearly gates along green pastures. ♥

Thanks for inspiring my love for gardening.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:47 am.

Victoria says:

My dad was the oldest and most interesting Filippino gardener I knew.  He had green Hands, not just thumbs, grew everything, even huge cactuses in Morro Bay by the sea! He continued to till 10 acres with his wife, growing mini-squashes, snow peas, two kinds of garlic and giant pumpkins for the local Farmers’ Markets.  He died at 100, but would have lived longer if he hadn’t gotten an infection from a cactus spine while moving them in his front yard.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:09 am.

Diane says:

When visiting my elderly aunt in her convalescent home, I was pleasently surprised by the outdoor table height vegetable garden box for the residents to roll their wheelchairs up to and garden.  Therapy at any age.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:25 am.

Victoria says:

Both my grandmothers were gardeners.  One of them loved to grow and can tomatoes and had the most beautiful hanging fuschia plants.  The other had a yard full of zinnias and daisies and chrysanthemums and was still cleaning gutters at 91.  Lovely ladies that I still miss!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:33 am.

Karen says:

My father is still working in his garden at 80.  Between the fruit trees, flowers and vegetables, he keeps busy.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:37 pm.

Donna Ross says:

We had a pair of wonderful gardeners in Whittier - they were in their 90’s but their garden was beautiful and very well kept by them.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:42 pm.

Jodi says:

Our neighbor,and our children’s adopted grandfather - Arnie. He helped me learn to garden in Huntington Beach. He told me that my geraniums would grow to the ocean if I let them! He grew sweet peas that brightened our table in winter.  We now only have memories of Arnie, as well as his China Lilies that line our driveway. God Bless Arnie…a gardener until his 90’s.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 4:33 pm.

Annette says:

My Grandpa was the oldest gardener I’ve ever know personally.  Plus he taught me plenty.  He even raised chickens which made a big contribution to the garden and breakfast (and sometimes dinner, egads!)

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 5:56 pm.

Annie M. says:

The oldest gardener…my grandfather who only lived into his late 70’s, but lovingly gardened an acre of incredible vegetables, roses, strawberries and raspberries, flowers, fruit trees, and happy grandchildren!

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 7:49 pm.

Jeannette says:

I’m in a gardening class at our local senior center.  Most of the people attending the class are 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.  They are all going strong and are active gardeners.  Our teacher teaches this same class to four other senior classes through our local community college.  All of the people in the classes are in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:28 pm.

kristen says:

my grandmother (she liked to be called ‘nanny’) was 88 when she died and she was gardening right up to the end. michigan was her home, her garden was beautiful every year i was fortunate to see it.

Posted on February 25, 2012 at 2:35 pm.

kristen says:

(con’t.) ... although, my dad just turned 85 and he is still at it in his yard. granted he has simplified a bit but he still has his rhubarb patch and petunias. minnesota is his home, and i wish i got out there to see it more! stories suffice until then.

Posted on February 25, 2012 at 2:37 pm.

Anne Myer says:

I had the opportunity to take a garden tour at the home of Bea Grow a couple of years ago.  She was such a delightful, knowledgeable lady.

Posted on February 25, 2012 at 4:42 pm.

Judy Sundermann says:

My wonderful neighbor, “Aunt” Janet gardened until she died in her 90’s.  I was about 5 in 1955 `when we moved into the house next door.  It was the first time I had rhubarb.  I loved her peas and tomatoes and zinnias and paperwhites at Christmas.

Posted on February 27, 2012 at 4:27 pm.