GREEN-FINGERED centenarian Ralph Hoare is taking to Twitter to share his horticultural tips.
The 104-year-old from Longlevens still enjoys his passion for growing vegetables and cultivating his 200 rose bushes.
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Ralph Hoare, 104, with his great-granddaughter
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Ralph as a baby with his mother
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Ralph Hoare, 104, in his garden in Longlevens
Age certainly hasn’t held him back but he allows for his weak knees by using a hoe for weeding and a grabbing tool for picking up items from the ground.
He also secures the help of his great-grandchildren, aged six and four, who he says are already proficient in deadheading his roses.
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Mr Hoare took up gardening in 1914 when he was himself aged six and has now decided to share almost a century of experience with the Twitter generation.
The former bank worker and RAF veteran – who cites gardening as the key to his long life – will answer questions posted with the hashtag #askralph.
Mr Hoare was identified as the UK’s oldest active gardener by retailer Furniture Village, which led a hunt for an expert to respond to the nation’s horticultural questions.
Mr Hoare said: “I have just sent off my order for my annuals.
“The seed potatoes are sprouting in the spare bedroom and I am waiting for some dry weather for the onion sets.
“The thought of my garden in bloom gives me the willpower to continue through the winter. Gardening keeps me on the move and my mind active.”
Born in Plymouth in 1908, Mr Hoare grew up in Devon where he remembers his earliest gardening experience of growing Japanese anemones.
He has kept the garden at his Longlevens home himself since the death of his wife Dorothy in 2007.
“She used to do all the weeding and I did the planting, pruning and digging,” he said.
The couple, married in 1940 at St John’s Church in Taunton, Somerset, had two children and Mr Hoare is now grandfather to six and great-grandfather to a further six children.
He said: “Now that my knees are not so good, I have to garden standing up and by asking other people to do things for me.”
Members of the public can put questions to Mr Hoare via the official Furniture Village Twitter account (@OfficialFV).
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