Grow A Great Garden

Do you admire other people's gardens but think that you could never have one? Many people love to look at their neighbor's lovely gardens in the spring and summer or chat with their neighbors as their neighbors work in their gardens and they think how nice it would be to have a lovely garden of their own, but think that they could never create a garden. 

It's not as hard as you might think to create a beautiful garden full of healthy, thriving plants.  It takes some patience, some know how, and some planning, but you can create a beautiful garden in your yard.

The biggest reason that people think they can't create their own beautiful gardens is because they think that gardening requires a great deal of time and effort and a considerable amount of knowledge about plants. It's true that creating a wonderful garden does take some effort, but it's easy to find the information you need to know in order to pick the best plants for your particular area of the country and for the soil that you have.  Actually, this site will also give you tips that can help cut down on the time it takes to create and tend to a garden.

You will find that once you lay the foundation for your garden properly it won't take much time or effort to keep it going.  And the time and effort you do spend on the garden you will probably enjoy! There are lots of people that garden as a hobby because they find it relaxing and renewing to spend time planting and watching their plants grow.

Once you see how easy it can be to plan, create, and maintain your own beautiful garden you will have lots of fun creating your own garden.  Gardening is a great hobby for older people or retired people because there are lots of gardening groups that plan social activities like garden tours and garden lunches and also have meetings to discuss different aspects of gardening.

Think gardening has to be a lot of work? It is work, but there are a lot of benefits to gardening that you may not realize. 

 
THE BENEFITS OF GARDENING

Most people don't realize the many benefits that gardening offers to people of all ages. It doesn't matter if you're young or old; gardening has many physical and mental benefits that can help you lead a more active, richer life. Consider some of these wonderful benefits that gardening offers:

Physical Benefits

Any type of exercise is good.  Most people don't get even half of the recommended amount of exercise for their age group. Gardening is a fun hobby that can contribute to physical fitness because gardening helps to build physical fitness in several ways. Regular physical exercise helps people ward off serious illness like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and even some types of cancer. In addition to warding off disease, exercise helps people by improving essential physical fitness traits like:

Endurance - It can take many hours of squatting, walking, and otherwise moving in the garden to get your garden ready to be planted, plant, and then to maintain the garden after it's planted. The more physical aspects of gardening like tilling the soil, planting, and weeding help to build endurance and help condition the heart.  Gardening can be a wonderful way for older people to stay fit in a gentle way that doesn't strain their joints or muscles.

Flexibility - It can be hard to maintain a good level of flexibility if you work in an office and sit at a desk all day, or if you don't get to move around very much.  If you have a condition that makes it difficult for you to move around, it's even more important that you stay flexible than it is for other people so that you don't become crippled.  Gardening involves many different active poses that will help increase your flexibility and keep you young and healthy.

Strength - Even though you won't get buff from gardening performing normal gardening tasks and using garden implements like tillers and hauling around bags of soil and mulch, it can help to significantly increase your strength. Gardening is a lot more fun than lifting weights, and you'll be amazed at how much strength you can gain just from simple gardening tasks.

Gardening has many other physical benefits that can help people feel younger and stay fit. Gardening is a great activity for older people who need gentle exercise but also need to stay mobile and active.  In addition to the many physical benefits that gardening has, there are a wide range of mental benefits that gardening provides.

Mental Benefits of Gardening

Most people are aware of the physical benefits of gardening but they don't always think about the mental benefits of gardening.  Gardening can provide some very significant and much needed mental benefits in addition to physical exercise.

Stress Relief - Stress is one of the most common health complaints that people have.  Stress from work, from family, from just daily living can build up and lead to all sorts of serious health problems.  Many people who suffer from chronic health conditions are advised by doctors and experts to reduce their stress levels in order to stay healthy and fight off more chronic problems.  High stress levels can also lead to insomnia and other problems that bleed over into daily life, making it hard to function.

Gardening is a proven stress reliever. There is just something about being outside, in nature, digging in the dirt and helping plants to grow that is soothing and relieves stress.  Gardening is a great excuse to get out into the fresh air and sunshine and relax. 

Anxiety Relief - People who suffer from chronic anxiety and even some people who are being treated for severe anxiety find comfort in gardening. The relaxation of gardening can be a very effective way to combat anxiety.  When you're outside gardening, it's easy to sit and meditate, or sit and daydream, or just enjoy being outside in the fresh air, all of which can help you relax and calm down.

In fact, there is a particular form of therapy that is being developed that uses gardening as a therapeutic tool to combat depression and anxiety.  For people who don't respond well to the drugs that are usually prescribed to combat those disorders, gardening can be a safe and very effective treatment.  Participating in gardening clubs or other gardening social activities can also be a good way to combat social anxiety disorders and other fears associated with being around people.

Participants in gardening therapy also feel a sense of accomplishment, increased self-esteem, and a feeling of purpose because they are creating something special for others to enjoy and use.  Researchers still don't know all of the benefits associated with gardening therapy, but the ones that have already been documented are enough to make gardening a highly worthwhile activity for both physical and mental health.

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