GARDENING is good for body and soul. Whether you are planting, moving the lawn or trimming plants, it is good for you.
Believe it or not, digging in soil and tending a garden can improve your mental and physical health.
By watering the plants, trimming a bush or just looking at flowers, you are getting in touch with nature. and that itself is therapeutic.
A research carried out last year by Harvard University’s public health graduate school and Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that people living in an area rich in vegetation have improved physical and mental health.
It also found that 30 per cent of the overall morality benefit from living near vegetation came from low depression level.
Regardless of age, gardening is for everybody. So, pick up the spade and get started!
Even if you don’t have big space, try to make do with what little that you have. Plant easy-to-grow perennials, vegetables or fruit trees.
You can also grow herbs that can later be used in your daily cooking.
If you have a community garden, better still. Use that space to do some planting.
A recent article in Daily Mail stated that allotments are a growing part of the scene in retirement developments in the United Kingdom.
“Watching gardens grow is nurturing,” said Susie Layton, who bought a house with husband Derek at Stuart Court, a development for those over 55, in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire.
Susie and Derek, 68 and 77 respectively, moved into the large three-bedroom terraced house earlier this year.
“We saw the house had three balconies, so I knew I’d be able to do some container gardening, but when I learnt there were allotments available, it was too tantalising not to buy,” Susie said.
The couple previously owned a large house on 24.28ha land, a massive vegetable garden and herbaceous borders.
Another couple, Norman and Beryl Gilbey, 87 and 88, moved into their two-bedroom first floor apartment at Moat Park, by Retirement Villages in Great Easton, Essex.
“Now, every afternoon, I go into the gardens to do a bit of maintenance, watering and planting. It gets you out and it’s a nice place to be,” said Norman.