Gardening with Gael - Gardening: My kind of therapy

Welcome 2018 and what better way than to read an article in the January edition of the New Zealand Gardener which recommends gardening as a holistic health benefit. The article, for those interested is entitled ‘Should Doctors Prescribe Gardening?’ It appears they should. Our friend Al, a general Practitioner in Upper Hutt has frequently observed that gardeners are some of his healthiest patients. This observation has now been backed up with scientific evidence. Research at Auckland University of Technology’s Northcote Campus and Odyssey House in Christchurch both report that regular gardening shows significant improvements in physical and mental health.

It is not enough just to wander through a garden although this too is good for our health. This article maintains that ‘Science has confirmed that spending time in nature is good for our health. Finnish researchers have found that just 20 minutes a day can lower blood pressure and increase feelings of vitality.’ They obviouslty haven’t spent 20 minutes climbing up and down the levels in the Block garden at this time of the year. Vitality is completely wiped and I crash on to the nearest horizontal surface. It’s true though, gardening is something that engages the spirit.

The research seems to show that gardens which engage all the senses have the greater effect. Architectural gardens of palms, spikey plants and grasses have less impact than gardens which have an abundance of different foliages, colours and fragrances.

With 20 minutes a day being the minimum my Christmas present fits in very well. As the bushes, citrus trees and general garden has grown my cumbersome mower with an electric starter was becoming increasingly difficult and heavy to use. It was ideal in that I didn’t have to pull on a cord to get it started, a skill I have never mastered. I swear my arms aren’t long enough and I also swear it puts my neck out. These things increase blood pressure I am sure. The mower with the electric starter worked well for a few years but as my back has aged the weight of the mower became inhibiting. Box tried it once and said

“Good grief you can’t keep using this.”

Enter Christmas. My new battery operated mower is light, starts with the press of a button and lasts not a lot longer than the required 20 minutes. Probably a little longer than half an hour if the grass is short. My initial frustration that I then had to wait an hour for the battery to recharge disappeared when I realised how much kinder to my body this new method of mowing was. A little bit at a time in between to weed or prune things I noticed while I was mowing. It is working brilliantly well. Everything about my new mower is easy, light, and quiet. Lawn mowing now is a blood pressure lowering exercise.

I have now had to point out to my friend Dawn, who regularly helps me in the garden that I am. in fact, doing her a huge favour letting her slave away in the weediest areas.