During my daily walks, I visit the Addison Community Garden. It is thrilling to see the changes in the plants. One day there may be a tiny sprout and in no time, it is a full-grown, luscious tomato, artichoke, or pepper.
One of the popular activities during this time of isolation is gardening. According to Thompson Reuters Corp., people around the world are turning to gardening as a soothing, family-friendly hobby that also eases concerns over food security, as lockdowns slow the harvesting and distribution of some crops. Fruit and vegetable seed sales are jumping worldwide. Russians are isolating in out-of-town cottages with plots of land, a traditional source of vegetables during tough times since the Soviet era, and rooftop farms are planned in Singapore, which relies heavily on food imports.
Parents too are turning to gardening as an outdoor activity to do with children stuck at home after schools shut per Reuters. “Planting a few potatoes can be quite a revelation to a child,” said Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society, which has seen a five-fold rise in queries for advice on its website during the lockdown. Gardeners without yards are even planting potatoes in trash bags, he said.
There are many benefits to gardening, according to Good Housekeeping:
1. Burns a lot of calories.
Good news for those who already spend hours planting perennials: Gardening is considered moderate-intensity exercise. You can burn about 330 calories doing one hour of light gardening and yard work — more than walking at a moderate pace for the same amount of time — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Men and women who participated in a community gardening program also had significantly lower body mass indexes than their otherwise similar neighbors, according to a 2013 study in the American Journal of Public Health.
2. Can lower your blood pressure.
Just 30 minutes of moderate-level physical activity most days of the week can prevent and control high blood pressure. In fact, The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends gardening or raking leaves for 30-45 minutes as examples of how to hit that recommended amount.
3. Is good for your bones.
When you're outdoors and your skin is exposed to the sun, it prompts your body to make vitamin D. This vitamin — also found in fish and fortified foods like milk — helps your body absorb calcium, a mineral essential for bone formation, according to the National Institutes of Health. (FYI: You should still apply sunscreen if you're planning on spending more than a few minutes in the sun to lower your risk of skin cancer.)
4. Can help you eat healthier.
Besides the physical exercise you'll get tending to a vegetable garden, a productive plot can also promote a better diet by supplying fresh, healthy produce. The Dietary Guidelines recommends eating at least 2 cups of vegetables and 1½ cups of fruits per day to get necessary nutrients and reduce risk of chronic disease. However, only 1 in 10 Americans adults meet those recommendations, according to the CDC.
Gardening helps people develop a lasting habit of eating enough fruits and vegetables though, according to 2016 research from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Gardening may work not only by providing fresh veggies but also making it more likely for children to try foods they may not have eaten before, research from the American Society for Horticultural Science theorizes.
5. Can relieve stress.
Gardening is positively correlated with a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms, according to a 2017 meta-analysis in Preventive Medicine Reports that looked at 22 different case studies. In fact, some hospitals even use planting and flower arranging as a type of rehabilitation for people recovering from injuries, strokes, surgeries, and other conditions.
Not only does it give people control over a situation when they might feel helpless, but it also teaches them a new skill that can restore confidence. According to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, by helping people transform their stress into a more positive emotion, gardening also gives people an excellent coping mechanism for their daily frustrations. Nurturing plants reduces stress levels and gives people a way to cope with their negative feelings.
Just being around plants — without gardening — also provides benefits per Texas A&M AgriLife Extension:
6. Improves concentration and memory.
Being around plants helps people concentrate better in the home and workplace. Studies show that tasks performed while under the calming influence of nature are performed better and with greater accuracy, yielding a higher quality result. Moreover, being outside in a natural environment can improve memory performance and attention span by twenty percent.
7. Improves relationships/compassion.
Research shows that people who spend extended lengths of time around plants tend to have better relationships with others. This improvement is due to measurable increases in feelings of compassion, another effect of exposure to ornamental plants. People who care for nature are more likely to care for others, reaching out to their peers and forming shared bonds resulting from their common interests.
8. Accelerates healing process.
The presence of plants in hospital recovery rooms and/or views of aesthetically pleasing gardens help patients to heal faster, due to the soothing affects of ornamental horticulture. Another technique to decrease recovery time is horticulture therapy, where patients care for and nurture plants themselves. Patients who physically interact with plants experience a significantly reduced recovery time after medical procedures.
9. Improves learning.
Research shows that children who spend time around plants learn better. In addition, being around natural environments improves the ability of children with Attention Deficit Disorder to focus, concentrate, and engage more with their surrounding environment. The soothing effects of natural aesthetic beauty help to minimize the distractions that would otherwise occupy their minds.
10. Improves traffic safety/driver satisfaction.
Beautifying roadways can have the dual effect of increasing driver satisfaction with the roadside landscape and creating a natural median. Drivers are much less likely to accidentally drive over a median if there is a landscaped area between oncoming lanes of traffic.
For more information on how to create your own garden, see the links below:
Texas A&M Easy Gardening series:
Free booklet on how to do soil testing:
Vegetable gardening (including containers) in North Texas from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: http://txmg.org/denton/files/2012/10/introduction-to-vegetable-gardening-web.pdf
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