Gardening Your Way to Health

Gardening is not just a hobby that you can engage in just for leisure. The health benefits you can achieve from gardening are numerous.

Gardening is an all-round exercise; because your vigour, flexibility and stamina are improved when you take on gardening. The art of gardening can also help improve your health because gardeners have access to fresh fruits and vegetables which is very much healthier than canned or store bought fruits. You see, fruits and vegetables begin to lose their nutritional value from the instant they are picked. Eating fresh garden produce is good for maintaining a healthy diet.

Gardening can help you meditate and it gives you a feeling of calm, which is needed for a sound mind. Gardening can help you work up an appetite and a good amount of gardening will also promote a good night rest as well.

Gardeners are patient , positive and very optimistic people because they look at the future with hope and expectancy (of a better harvest) and they look back with pride and a sense of gratitude at their past harvest.

Gardening can also give you a feeling of achievement when you look back to how you started and how far you have come. For example, you planted a small seed/nut and it grows to be a big tree that gives shade to your yard and your children's swing is tied to one of its branches, it makes you wonder at the little miracles of life and helps you appreciate life.

Spending quality time in your garden, taking pleasure in the sounds, the smells and the scenery can help you relax your mind and give inner peace. Gardening is therapeutic, which is important for our wellbeing.

Gardening can also be used as a form of therapy to help;

People with mental health illness,

People with infirmities,

Elderly people,

People with special needs,

People who are recovering from physical sickness.

Gardening helps you to release endorphins (endorphin is a hormone produced by the brain that reduces the feeling of pain) which helps you decrease stress and its negative effects. Research has proved that just spending time in the garden can help lower blood pressure.

You don't have to own a patch of land or greenhouse in order to start or enjoy the benefits of gardening. You can simply start by growing i.e. tomatoes, pepper, green beans in your apartment (referred as in door gardening). You can buy a pot and fill it up with soil, plant your tomato seeds and place it in a corner where the plant can receive plenty of sunlight (because most plants thrive on this). You can place it on your kitchen window and watch it closely because it needs a lot of attention.

Taking up gardening is not just for the old, young people too can participate in this exercise. Young can benefit from this hobby because it can help them curb obesity, provide them fresh and chemical free fruits and vegetables. The process of planting and harvesting garden produce is fascinating to kids