On Gardening and Getting Old

I enjoy gardening or at least going out into my garden and eating something fresh from the vine or tree. The second most exciting thing is picking out the plants or seeds and reading about how beautiful and delicious it is. It is almost like I am pre-eating it as I read. I also enjoy watching the plant grow, again with the anticipation of the tasting the fruit (or vegetable). I am less excited when it comes to watching the weeds grow and even less excited about actually pulling them.
One thing I have notice as I get older is that I start thinking about my age when I am reading about a plant. If I read that a particular fruit tree won’t be producing fruit for 3 or 5 years I do the math in my head. Five years??? Wow I will 61.
I have had wonderful blueberry crops the past couple years and even though I made some major changes this year such as finally giving up on five plants on the south side of the house which get too much shade and see too many bird and squirrel visits but there is that lingering question of how many more years I will be able to take care of them. Blueberries don’t take a lot of work but they do need regular watering (if it doesn’t rain) and I need to put up nets to keep the birds off of them. So it is work and right now it is work I can do. But I have to admit that getting old and the anticipation of getting even older has taken some of the thrill out of gardening.