I totally understand your question. I am gardening at 66. I would keep the mowing lawn small. Decide what you like and want from a vegetable garden....do you plan to can or freeze. Make a list of those veggies, figure how much space is required. I would start the garden small if you have never gardened before. You can get great info from your state extension people about how to raise anything for your area. If you can bend and squat without difficulty, I would certainly have some strawberries. Blackberries and other brambles are a bit of trouble, but delicious. Be sure you understand their growing and pruning requirements. As for fruit trees, most require 7 to 10 sprays a season to have good quality fruit. The one fruit that comes to mind requiring no sprays is pears and I don't spray my sour cherry tree. If you want to cultivate this as a semi-hobby thing for retirement. I would plant trees soon, most take 3-5 years to produce. Ornamentals.......I am trying to get more shrubs and grasses and ornamental trees so that I won't have so much to maintain as you do with perennials. Bulbs are great, once you get them in the ground, they just require feeding now and again; likewise clematis. At your age, I sure wouldn't hesitate to plant whatever I wanted. Think of the wasted years between now and whenever (if ever) when you can't garden. My neighbor who is 85 moved to her present home about 15 years ago and planted trees. They are now lovely shade trees. If she thought she was too old at 70, they wouldn't be there now for her to enjoy. As to layout, that is a personal preference thing once you are sure you have the right amount of sun and drainage required for things to thrive. Of course, you need the garden to be close to a water source. My biggest problem here is too much shade for my veggie garden. The trees were here when we moved in 1991. Be sure you don't plant anything that will shade your garden on the south side. Wow, I think I have covered everything. Good luck, don't let indecision bog you down. I wish I had planted my fruit trees the first thing; just did some last fall.

I was hoping somebody closer to you would answer, but here goes. My only experience with them is from what a buddy who has an orchard has shown me. He has had them for about 10 years, since the Varroa mite hit here. his hoeney bees dies out, and the USDA farm at Beltsville, MD helped him out. The link below tells more than I know. Another friend who burns wood has found a species of bee that bores into her hickory and pollinates her squash. She allows the face of the wood to remain, and the bees come back every year. Also, I have found a beehive to be anything but kid unfriendly. For 2 years we had one about 5 ft. from our front door (that's where I caught the swarm), and I was too lazy to move it. When I did, it was put under the head of my hammock and I was never stung. After the mites killed that one, I went out of the bee business since it is quite labor intensive to manage only 3 hives. If you want honeybees, take the Mrs. to see one. Beekeepers are quite willing to educate the public about bees. When I had bees, I had one hive so gentle that the local nursery school visited every spring. I opened the hive and the kids watched from about 10 ft. away behind me. Never a sting, and the ones in the van eventually came out to get closer. Hope this helps. Article: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dailey/SolitaryPollinatingBees-2010.pdf

Hey Steve, There are a lot of people more knowledgeable than me but I'll try to help. I looked up your location and you are in USDA zone 8b which is good for cold hardy citrus. It really depends how much time you want to put into cold protection. I am in South Alabama in 8A and have Satsumas, Changsha, Meyer Lemon, Kumquats, Sanbokan Sweet Lemons, and a Limequat in the ground. This winter my lowest temperature so far was 19 last month. I protect the Satsumas, Lemons and Limequats by sprinklers. The Changshas do well on their on when they get some size on them. Check out some pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbwindham/Dec2006Freeze As far as wet ground goes there you have a problem. Citrus do not like wet ground. They get foot rot. All is not lost though. I'll bet the LSU Ag Center or your local extension agent can tell you the best rootstock for damp soils. http://www.lsuagcenter.com/ Good luck with the citrus. Jack

You guys gave me such good advice i wanted to provide an update on my plans. I changed some trees and spaced things out more. I will be moving around November so i'm thinking i will leave them all in pots until close to spring in case we get a hard freeze (would only affect a couple trees) but i plan to hire a company and plant everything at the same time. Kinda concerned about the "pedestal" and whatever other underground cables i will have to deal with.