Róise McGagh looks at how gardening can be not only a great hobby, but can have a positive impact on your mindset and mental well-being
“If you put a seed in the ground it will do it’s best to grow,” says Jennifer Sleeman, an environmentalist and prominent Catholic convert now in her 90th year. She says she has gardened all her life and it is a very fulfilling hobby.
A lot of people, due to being shut up, have begun tending to their gardens over the past few weeks – likely because it is a great way to get outside and get some light exercise without having to venture far from your home. Ms Sleeman says that now is the right time for planting and growing.
It is good to start off with things like lettuce and radishes and then use them in your cooking. They grow quickly at this time of year, so if you’re new to the hobby you can get a thrill for it a little quicker.
If you don’t have a patch of land to call your own, a lot of vegetables can also be grown in boxes on window sills.
There are new studies coming out every year that continue to show the strong link between gardening and emotional wellbeing. Dr Benjamin Rush, the ‘father of American psychiatry’ over 200 years ago noticed that his mental health patients improved when they were engaged in gardening. Since then there has been a huge amount of research done into the benefits of nature on peoples mental health.
A research study done in Sweden found that the people who used their gardens more frequently had fewer instances of stress. A report in the Mental Health Journal stated that gardening has the ability to reduce stress as well as improve someone’s mood, resulting in a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
A 2016 study showed that there was a link between different greenspace and mental wellbeing. Those who spent more time in green spaces were reported to have lower levels of psychological distress. Last year the link was recognised between gardening and mental wellbeing when social prescribing was adopted in the UK the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019. This means that GPs can now refer their patients to the garden.
Research also suggests that access to the outdoors and nature as well as the social aspect of tending to a community garden (which unfortunately isn’t possible at the moment) is very important for people living with dementia and it can really improve their quality of life.
A lot of people instinctively know that being out in nature has the ability to lift anyone’s mood, even getting out of a walk or standing outside for some fresh air has a calming affect for many.
Gardening not only has this affect but the exercise of digging up the ground, getting your hands into the soil and helping things grow is an intrinsically mindful act. Katie Lydon, a teacher who returned from China at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, self-isolated before going to live with her in laws in Co. Leitrim where she is spending her time learning about gardening. Paddy, her husband’s father, gardened all his life and has been rebuilding the garden with her over the past few weeks.
“It’s definitely something that is therapeutic, you can go to it every day, you can tend to it and it is something that develops and you’re achieving something every day.
“You have to give it if your full attention while you’re doing it especially if you’re doing a new ridge in the garden,” she says, “you have to turn the sod with a spade and a shovel, and you need to concentrate or you could end up with something through your toe.”
She says that often it’s retired people who take it up, however she has found great solice in it at the minute while her life is on pause.
“I think the biggest thing that is therapeutic is that you’re achieving something. A lot of people during this time are either let off work or if you weren’t working you’re not doing the usual social things,” she says.
Last year at the Bloom in the Park festival there was a mental health garden titled ‘Grounded’. It was designed by Maeve O’Neill, a landscape architect and sculptor who worked with a team of people who have each had their own mental health problems. It was made on the idea that ‘a conversation can be the first step on the journey to recovery.’
Social and Therapeutic Horticulture, also described as Nature Based Therapy, Garden Therapy, Social Horticulture, Nature Based Therapeutic Services, EcoTherapy and many other names is a practice that is becoming more common in treating people with mental health difficulties. It engages a person in horticultural activities and is facilitated by a trained therapist to achieve specific and documented treatment goals.
Festina Lente, the not-for-profit equestrian and horticultural centre in Wicklow, runs Facilitator Training Programmes on Social and Therapeutic Horticulture. There are a number of studies showing the cognitive, psychological, social physical and mental health benefits of gardening. It even features in Johann Hari’s internationally acclaimed book Lost Connections on depression and anxiety.
As Ms Sleeman says, now is the right time for growing and there are many benefits to the act of growing plants. Since the hardware shops were allowed to open there are no more excuses.
You can plant anything you can plant in a poly tunnel, in your window, and the weather outside at this time of year is ideal for planting. If you’re unsure of what to do the best way lo learn is to call someone up who knows about gardening and ask them for advice. However if you don’t have a reference there are plenty of free online resources you can make use of. GIY is another not-for-profit which has the sole aim of helping people to grow some of their own food at home, at work, at school and in the community. You can go on to their website giy.ie which has easy grow sets, a planting calendar, video tutorials and a ‘Veg Directory’ with everything you need to know about growing your own food.
Vegetables are great to start with as they need less weeding and looking after than flowers, meaning if you can’t stoop down every day you can still have a flourishing ridge of plants. Not only do you get to tend to them and watch them grow every day from a tiny seed, but you’ll also have some great fresh ingredients to bring into your kitchen.