1. Go Organic
You can grow lush flowers and vegetables without resorting to toxic pesticides and herbicides. Compared to a decade ago, there are many more organically approved sprays to keep bugs from snacking on your garden delicacies. When you garden organically, you not only keep harmful chemicals out of the environment, you also avoid possible adverse health effects linked to pesticides, including cancer, nervous system damage and reproductive side effects. Start by enriching your soil with ample amounts of compost, which boosts plants' immune systems.
2. Watch Your Back
The "weekend warrior" syndrome usually refers to sedentary people who overexert themselves on the weekends. Many gardeners illustrate this phrase. If you sit at the computer all week, but wield a shovel like Martha Stewart on steroids come Saturday, you're putting yourself at risk for back injuries and muscle strains. Protect your back by minimizing heavy lifting. Use a tarp to drag leaves and garden debris to the compost bin. Protect your knees with a kneeling pad. Take frequent breaks from wrist-intensive trowel work. Use long-handled tools to reduce reaching.
3. A Breath of Fresh Air
We know that engaging in strenuous gardening can strengthen our bodies. Gardening also provides a breath of fresh air for the spirit, as it's an effective stress reducer. In fact, gardening is such an effective stress reducer that some gardens employ horticultural therapists to bring the healing effects of the outdoors to those who need it. Gardening is a meditative activity, and its calming effects can lower blood pressure. Nurturing growing things in an outdoor environment is an activity that appeals to people on a fundamental level. Research shows that gardening may even prevent Alzheimer's disease, as it provides an excellent mental workout.
4. Reap What You Sow
If your gardening hobby consists of a few flats of annuals tucked around your foundation each spring, you're missing out on an easy way to get your daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. You might think you don't like broccoli or Brussels sprouts, but then again, have you ever tasted these delicacies freshly shorn from their stalks? If you live on a typical suburban lot with no place to cordon off for a traditional vegetable garden, consider the hottest trend in home gardening: edible landscaping. Vegetables can lend as much beauty as nutritional value to your property. You can alternate red bell peppers with marigolds for a brilliant display rich in vitamin C.
5. An Accessible Hobby
If you are managing a disability, you can find a way to incorporate gardening into your lifestyle. Entire industries exist to serve the needs of disabled gardeners by providing them with tools tailored to their disabilities. Gardeners in wheelchairs can bring the garden to them by using elevated planters that resemble tables with living tabletops. Long-handled tools, ranging from grabbers to loppers and saws, take the backache out of garden tasks. Arthritis patients can buy ratchet-pruning tools that require very little pressure to make clean cuts.
Member Comments