Gardening’s the best. Fresh air, sometimes dirty hands and (usually) a beautiful reward for a job well done. For this year’s RHS Gardening Week the society’s leaning into that good feeling, highlighting the links between gardening and wellbeing so everyone can feel good about getting outdoors.
If you’re keen to join in on getting some vitamin G, take a look at these key pieces of the working-outdoors puzzle that we’ve pulled together for you.
Tools out
Getting your hands dirty is all well and good, but starting with tools is better. Get down with a trowel, work with a fork and upgrade your spade, all to make that garden work a little easier. That way, you’ll enjoy it even more.
Physical health is tied to overall wellbeing, so breaking a sweat with a bit of physical labour is a great way to keep your heart healthy. Your hard work will make you breathe in that lovely fresh air even more deeply, so it’s a win-win-win for your mind, body and soul.
Raise your game
Hard gardening work’s no good if you’ve nowhere to put the plants. Share your own wellbeing with your upcoming veggies and spare them from low level weeds, errant footsteps and creeping cold with a raised bed.
You can even get beds that don’t touch the ground, great for all those vegetables that dream of leaving the earth behind – and sparing yourself a bit of bending over.
Better veg means better health, reducing your risk of heart disease, and it also means less buying from the shops so less food waste. Plants love them, we love them, and we think you will too.
Screen with joy
If your current garden-containing efforts are an of-fence to your eyes, feel better about your space with some fancy fency hurdles. Made from natural willow, these are an attractive and durable element to add to your garden to hide your compost bins or create a calming corner.
Willow used to be good for headaches, and while we can’t (and won’t) claim that these hurdles somehow still contain that power we can say that a good-looking garden space can help with stress.