My pain seems worse in cold weather and winter. and I tend to skip meals...mostly dinner. But sometimes lunch. I eat a high protein breakfast every day tho...morning is my best time. This has messed with my blood sugar, but so far I am able to avoid insulin. I tend to eat quality high protein foods, and snack on protein nutritional bars like Zone bars, when I skip a meal. Nuts also seem to help. When you get to be my age 65...you'll understand, how food intake changes. Keeping away from carbs really helps me alot. But that is just me.

I walk with a walking stick and only stand up for 15minutes at a time. In the house I do flats of flowers, under lights, etc.

It takes a while and planning to get them spaced out...when to start, when to be able to harden off outside. (I have a small cold frame for that). So I start the perennials first, in cells, and then move them out to do some of the annuals. I don't do everything, I buy the common things.

Once outside it is move them up to larger containers and I have a table out by the back door I work at. Each day I do some until I have all the flats outside on a long bench in the sun. I have to tend them daily, meaning hobbling out there and watering and whatever they need. When the actual planting time comes, hubby puts them in the ground for me. I do quite a bit of container gardening now, so many go into containers which I can do. I take some upNorth for there also, so I have to keep them going til July.

Here are some photos:
This first one is indoors in early March... the flat on the left has 3 types of Black Eyed susans--Rudbeckia annuals, and the center is some ornamental grasses. Mostly blue fescue.
The second pic is hardening one flat off. The Rudbeckia in the back various grasses in the front.

The 3rd is from 2009 when I took alot of petunias (purchased) upNorth, along with my own seedlings. This was a massive error for me and I try not to repeat this. LOL I just overbought.
But it shows the two benches I use to hold them there until they get put in.

So you see lots of work that is manageable with sitting down frequently and hobbling around.
Once I bend and get going in hot weather, I can do some planting bending (not kneeling)...but hubby will do most of it in small bursts, for me with direction. I am slowly fixing 2 new gardens with self sustaining ground cover perennials and flowers, so planting was less this year than the previous.
I also have adoptive homes for my "baby plants" and give away alot. One never knows how successful the seedling starting will be so I always have extra. Now that I have my tricks, there are more extras...LOL and my son now has his own home and he takes many of my overflow ones.

My knee went out today...so I am very upset about this, as it has been 8yrs before when this happened! I might have to get another injection...I'll wait a week and see. Wearing my brace again! DANG! I can barely walk today... I am NOT HAPPY.

this is a photo 4 of our pontoon boat one season when I took up my plants for our island home.

I would like to get some raised beds going in the back yard eventually, and that would help too. Lots of things in the gardening catalogs to help with raised bed planting etc.

I also do art work, but when pain is bad, that doesn't seem to help...I can't think straight then. One year I made Crystal balls from crystals and semiprecious gems... that did work out. This year I was planning some cat and hummingbird things..but today my knee is making me think it won't work out. I'll be going back to my Lidoderms this week! Maybe that will help, again. sigh.

When you look at the flowers/boat, you will see that hubby is a great help and good sport. Without him I would not be doing most of this stuff! I think he secretly enjoys it...but won't really come out and admit it. But he helps without complaint, and so we are a team effort. 43 yr old team now!