Gardening as a Holistic Practice

Gardening is more than just germinating seeds, weeding and harvesting.

A few years ago I was having a conversation with a mate and trying to understand why I had got into gardening. It all started in my early twenties, I’m not the “normal” demographic, you don’t see people like me on the gardening programmes or in the magazines. So why was drawn to gardening?

Since launching The Grow Guide, that need to understand why has increase, so I’m on a journey to discover what the pull is.

As of today, I can say the 3 main reasons why I enjoy gardening are:

• Knowing I’ve made an investment to myself and the planet. One small pack of seeds can produce load of fruits, vegs and herbs for cheap. I can’t tell you the last time I bought a bag of spinach, kale, mint, chives…I can keep going. The food is fresh, I know exactly where it came from, I don’t spray pesticides on them and I’m not buying plastic or wasting food. I pick want I need, when I need it.

• The lesson nature teaches me. Which while it may sound out there, and a bit woo hoo, being outside has taught me patience and how to grow my own food.

• Being outside is the perfect distraction from freelance work, so the mental health benefits are exactly what I need. As a freelancer I rarely get a chance to slack on organisation and focus. Outside doesn’t demand that of me, so it’s a welcomed sanctuary (especially in lockdown -COVID era).

Knowing this, I wanted to understand more about the mental health benefits of gardening, and after doing some research I found a few studies that showed some really interesting results.

In Finland a study was conducted to understand the benefits of gardening on out patients recovering from mental health disorders.

They found that concentration was better, they felt calmer, they felt joy and cheerful and they felt useful.

Another study I found, showed that they saw an improvement in mood, quality of sleep and the people exhibited better levels of concentration.

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So as well as that, I’ve rounded up a list of the other rewards from gardening.

Benefits of Gardening:

• Reduction of stress

• A sense of having an end goal - taking part in physical work that has a purpose.

• Within urban spaces like cities, it’s a great distraction from the chaos of the city, helping people get through moments of mental tiredness

Benefits of Community Gardening:

• Developing real life social networks

• The feeling of pride in your local space, and a sense of duty.

• Also its a great way to express your knowledge, which is great for boosting your confidence

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So from us at The Grow Guide to you, get yourself outdoors and growing. The benefits are clear, but I recommend you give it a go yourself.