Looking Forward to Retirement (maybe???)

all,

My name is larry and I am about to join the retirement force in the good old state of Illinois. So, I thought it was time to think about what was going to take up my time when I was no longer needed to push a vacuum around a well carpeted elementary school. :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:

I have been wondering around the forum here for a little while and what I could and finding out as much info so that I would be ready to start something next spring and see if this is what I would like to send time doing in my retirement years.

My wife is a minister in a town near where we live ad we just started a “row” type garden for the children of the church so they could learn about working and sharing things. We are trying to get them to share what they receive from the garden with the community and by that give them a stronger tie with the helping of others that have less than what we have.

So, with all that info …. I have thought to use SFG here at home and then introduce it to the church garden. As I get it going and working here at the house then I can introduce the children to it (knowing it will work for them because children need to be a part of things that succeed) and they will then be able to use the ground we have more wisely and the yields that they share with the community will be greater. Who knows …. Maybe we will be able to create some more SFG in this little town.

Anyway, that’s me and by reading so many posts I am beginning to know you all better.

May I be one of the first to welcome you to the site .
Larry that's really brave ....looking forward to retitement ..most people I know looked at it with dread & turned their toes up a few weeks into it.
Are you retiring for reasons of age , sickness or better still shed loads of money ?

I've looked for it all my life and found it 18 years ago due to injuries.
Now I have settled it all in my heart and mind I've never been so busy or so happy , it makes me wonder how I ever found time for that four letter word spelt " W .o .r . k .

What are your usual growing veg and what would you like to attempt to grow.?

plantoid wrote:

Are you retiring for reasons of age , sickness or better still shed loads of money ?

What are your usual growing veg and what would you like to attempt to grow.?

for the warm welcome Plantoid.

My reason for retirement (a short 3 years off) is age. Been working sense I was in my early teens and think that its time to call it quits. My wife and I have been putting away for my retirement for a long time now and have most things covered but one thing I know .... is you can count on the unexpected to pop up when you least expect/want it to happen (Rooster's knee is a good example), we just cross those things when they get here.


(children) growing at the church ....we have put in beans, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, watermelon, gourds and zucchini and because of a late start and really hot weather we had a bad turnout.

As far as my gardening ..... it is with flowers done a few (10) years ago after my heart operation for therapy before returning to work. It was in raise beds (which are gone now but the flowers still remain) and was great fun putting them together with the wife.

I wish to move from flowers to vegs and food stuff that the kids could use at the church hopefully (and would take the cost for some foods off the retirement check that the wife and I will be living on ). I do lean to the unusual, (you know like purple carrots and stuff like that) and have been looking at those kinds of post (along with all the rest) with real interest.

But all things are open right now because I'm still in the learning stage and waiting for SFGing book to show up for fall and winter reading.

The 2 things I think I will create 1st is a compost maker on rollers so that I could make compost (which I have NEVER done) a little easer and also set up some kind of worm set up (I sure liked Josh's set up for the garden w/PVC pipe) like the hotel that was here someplace in the forum.

Thanks again for the welcome

Have a look in showcase for my raised beds .. they should last me out as they are built in impervious red engineering bricks and are 36 inches high 36 x36 wide /long
Some of the guys & gals I know who have planned well ahead and thought about retirement reckon the garden thing has been one of their better ideas because of the levels of personal achievement and satisfaction gained.

....... showcase ......

.... better ideas because of the levels of personal achievement and satisfaction gained ...... so right on all levels !!!

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left orange button look for date .... plantoid Wed 9 Nov - 21:42

Sorry plantoid , found the place but not the post but will have more time on Sunday eve and will look again.

Whoops Mistook

try .. When you get to " Showcase of gardens " click lh side " show us yours " look for raised beds extra
or try to put " raised beds extra " into the site search box

Found it plantoid and it was great to see what you were able to do with what you had to start with . Now, I will set and drool over that post every time I go to my favourites(and if my book doesn't get here soooooon I will be drooling about 3 times a day )

Welcome to the forum, Larry! And a very beautiful cat in your avatar! I have two that would match and another with long hair. Poor tuxedo kitty is the standout of my crowd

larry wrote:

I wish to move from flowers to vegs and food stuff that the kids could use at the church hopefully (and would take the cost for some foods off the retirement check that the wife and I will be living on ).

Larry, I hope you don't let the flowers go, but rather intermix your veggies and flowers. Flowers and veggies together make a much healthier garden, especially if you have long-blooming ones that provide plenty of nectar and pollen. Flowers will feed your pollinators and help them build up their populations - which are sadly depleted in many areas, due to pesticide and monoculture.

Some of your pollinators (like soldier beetles, for example) feed on nectar and pollen as adults, but feed on pest insects during their juvenile stages. And the increasing activity of pollinator insects also draws other beneficial insects.

My garden is practically overrun by assassin bugs, mantises, ladybugs, soldier flies and beetles, lacewings, and paper wasps. This means I have little pest damage to my garden. Things that others complain about, like tomato hornworms, army worms, cabbage worms, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, grasshoppers and many others simply are not present in my garden in sufficent numbers to do significant damage.

The only pest insect that bother me are ones that can "hide" inside the plant where predators cannot capture them - like pickleworm and squash vine borer.

If you walk through the garden in the morning - and it's simply humming with bees and wasps, and you see predator insects on many of the leaves - you have a healthy garden. Flowers make the difference.

Good luck with your new venture.

for the nice post Pollinator and I will not forget about my flower beds as I move into SFG (to much time and labor of love in them).

The weather hit my 4 flowerbeds ever hard this year and if they come back next year I will try to post some pictures.

It's going to be a long winter now Larry, once you read the book you are going to be sooo excited for spring to get here!

you could very well be right about the length of this winter cheyannarach but there will be a lot of reading, planning and supply getting and asking of questions on the forum and all this will depend on how soon Amazon is going to ship my book it has been on the send list for about 4 days now ..... anyway I have you all to keep me company and Josh to pick up my spirits if I get down .... and with that I will just dance till Mel's book get here

That's awesome Larry! Hope your book arrives soon!

Amazon just let loose of my Mel book at 5 am this morning should be here by the 10th

soooooon I will be ..... sorry just a little over excited I guess

I didn't read all the posts but -- if you don't already have a compost pile, be sure to study the compost part of the book and get it started asap. It is easily explained in Mel's book and is Crucial To Your Success.

llama momma wrote: -- if you don't already have a compost pile, be sure to study the compost part of the book and get it started asap.

That tip I will do ...... ..... thanks bunches llama momma

larry, I love your enthusiasm, you really are a glass half-full guy.

This year I did not have nearly enough compost made from last year for this year's beds so I spent some money and bought some bagged stuff from the garden centre etc. Along with the long wet spring, I have had a really disappointing return r except for stuff like chard, kale and runner beans. But I expect to do much better next year as I already have some lovely compost made that has loads of red wiggler worms in it. Sorted out the worms to make a Wiggler Hilton so I am really looking forward to next year's results.

As LM and others keep saying, it's the compost that matters most.