Why do we garden? Ever since the pandemic lockdowns we have rightly heard bucketloads about Gardening for Well-being.
But what does ‘Well-being’ actually mean to you? Is it something about control over Nature, or the very reverse? We 3Growbags have differing views, as you no doubt expected……….
There are a myriad of reasons why we’re so drawn to gardening, not least the joy of nurturing things and creating beauty. But I’m sorry to say that I mostly go out gardening to escape the housework. I don’t enjoy that at all really, and I’m a famously ropey chef – cooking just seems like another way to get very stressed to me. (Don’t even mention escaping technology issues, by the way, that’s a whole new level of furious frustration.)
So I walk outside, and even if I didn’t have a plan before, there is ALWAYS something to be getting on with – a little weeding, some deadheading or plant support, maybe pruning or harvesting? Whatever the chosen task is, it can occupy my mind entirely which I’ve found is the ideal way to forget about dusty windowsills or the washing-up.
Okay so maybe gardening isn’t quite as much a temptation if there is a tempest raging or the pelting rain is laced with ice (although I’ve been out in both, many times). But it’s still a way of escaping from inside living, and I always breathe more calmly out there. Just think how deeply grateful and lucky we felt to have that option during the Covid months – precious beyond price, in fact.
And then there are edibles! Lord knows I’m not a champion veg grower or an ace allotmenteer (some of my friends are superstars at this– you know who you are!)), but oh, it is so deeply satisfying to pop out into the garden and harvest something that you can eat for supper.
A few spuds perhaps, a courgette or a cucumber, a handful of tomatoes or a crisp lettuce (I’ve grown mine in pots this year – big success) or maybe some fruit? Thanks largely I think to the mild wet winter and spring, we have been drowning in plums, apples, pears, figs and grapes this summer. Apart from pruning, I do literally nothing to these fruit trees. How magical is that?
Although I’m definitely with Elaine on the housework front (in fact the Growbag motto should be ‘no interesting woman ever had a tidy house’) but I have rather loftier ideals for the sense of well-being that gardening brings.
The lifelong learning opportunities that gardening presents. This can be so many things from getting a plant name right (and here I set the bar higher than either of my slapdash sisters) to researching a plant’s origins in order to recreate its preferred location and growing conditions. Our Dad brought us up to try and learn something new every day, and I think I can honestly say that gardening as a hobby delivers on this one.
The challenges you can set yourself and the rewards these bring. I can’t be alone in seeing a wonderful piece of planting in another garden and setting myself the challenge to recreate a cameo of it in my own garden. The winter garden at Cambridge Botanic Gardens (a masterpiece), the stumperies at Arundel Castle Garden (intriguing), the grasses border by Piet Oudolf at RHS Wisley (inspirational) – I’ve had a go at them all!
The happiness of sharing and friendships made through gardening. We all open our gardens to the public (yes, even Caroline!) and seeing that your efforts bring pleasure to others is very heart- warming. Propagating a favourite plant to be able to pass it on to a friend or family member, recognising and remembering where all your own plants came from, swapping gardening tales with likeminded folk. All these things bring a deep sense of sharing, belonging and contentment, and without getting too soppy, are the main reasons we three love writing our weekly blog and sharing it with all of you.
I don’t want to put a spanner in the works but as usual it’s up to me to point out the emperor has no clothes on – ie that gardening can actually be quite stressful.
If my sisters emerged from their ‘hello clouds, hello sky’ bubble, they’d find Facebook pages full of people like me who don’t know what their plant is; whether it’s dead; or whether it’s alive but should be dead (a weed); and basically whether they’ve sown seeds, pruned, planted or weeded in quite the wrong way.
Frankly it’s often a relief to return to one’s dysfunctional family and workplace issues. At least there you can blame other people for your mistakes with more credibility than you can by laying the whole wretched mess at Mother Nature’s door.
However, embracing the assignment, I happily concede that a day in the garden does make you feel you’ve smashed an omni-pilates/yoga/aerobics session.
Lifting those summer pots is doing wonders for my abs, and although I daily expect to find my uterus lying in a puddle at my feet, it’s hard not to feel fabulous at the close of day when you stagger back indoors, aching, wet and scratched. Does anything feel as good as a Radox bath and large glass of something when you feel you 100% deserve it?
So there you have it: escape, growing food, lifelong learning, meeting challenges, sharing and friendships and the satisfaction of a hard day’s graft outside – some of the reasons why we 3Growbags adore our chosen pastime. What does gardening mean for your sense of happiness? We’d love to know…
NB On the subject of well-being, you must try Laura’s great recipe for rock cakes – they are a must-have whenever we three are together, and as comforting as a warm blanket on a cold night.
Our columnist Louise has the most beautiful plant for you this week that will look wonderful in containers for ages through the summer and right on into late autumn, even in semi-shade. No wonder it’s her Great Plant this month:
And on the subject of Louise, we have just had to order yet another reprint of her gorgeous book ‘A Plant for Each Week of the Year’ because it’s been so popular. It would make a perfect gift for a gardening friend – or for yourself! Do have a look in our online shop or click on the picture below:
NB If you’re not already a subscriber and you’d like a bit more gardening chitchat from the3growbags, please type your email address here and we’ll send you a new post every Saturday morning.
14 replies on “What does Gardening for Well-being mean to you?”
Like Elaine I like to be in the garden instead of doing housework! Unfortunately I’ve been diagnosed with OA so can’t do as much as I used to. I have a lovely lady who does most of mine but I still pull the odd weed(although there aren’t many that she misses). I also dead head and tie things in. It’s good just to sit sometimes and think about next season,my peony needs moving etc!
Hi Sylvia, Elaine here. I’m so sorry to hear about your diagnosis- it’s a horrible thing to have and depressingly common as we age, isn’t it. I’m glad that you can still get out there and do some of the gentler garden tasks though, and isn’t it still such a treat to sit and make plans for how beautiful it’s all going to look NEXT year! Sometimes that’s the best bit! Thank you for writing and we all send you best wishes and good luck.
I too have had arthritis for a long time….40 years + but manage inflammation through diet and gentle, now, exercise. I think The secret for gardening is to limit your enthusiasm to one area or one activity…(tricky) and get a willing Strong man to do those heavier chores.
Recipe for 1001% Joy
Hello Janet, glad to hear you manage to keep your arthritis under control, I take a daily turmeric tablet which seems to help. Agree about limiting your gardening activities but it’s very hard in practice. Also with you about needing some strong arm now and then – we have a nephew who is a landscaper/tree surgeon which is handy but the drawback is that he seems to want paying 🤣 with best wishes Laura
Yesterday had that lovely Autumn chill in the air which I love. I cut the grass, trimmed and neatened the edges and was well pleased with my effort. Like Caroline, that gave me the excuse to then sit down and put my feet up.
Helen thank you so much, we should definitely have included the wonderful feeling you get when you’ve cut your grass and attended to the edges – a garden achievement that gives satisfaction like no other, I’m surprised it doesnt actually have its own word!
It’s Caroline here and I also love the autumn and can even feel a little excited about the approach of winter (I’m less enthusiastic about it by March). It definitely gives us more opportunities to put our feet up, something we clearly both enjoy! Very best wishes to you, X
Must try your rock cakes… I don’t think I have had one or even thought of one for 60+ years! Recall loving them as a child. I have to be outside, except when it is torrential, and get a huge sense of calm and achievement… but never quite get there except with the sheer joy seeing things germinate…
Frances – definitely whip up a batch of rock buns toute suite! I don’t think Laura mentioned their other asset – they’re not tooooo sweet, so if anyone is diabetic or borderline diabetic, these are an allowable treat. I completely agree with you about seeing your seeds germinate – a massive dopamine hit especially as it tends to come at the end of the winter. So lovely to hear from you, Caroline XX
As always, such an interesting blog to enjoy with a cuppa every Saturday morning.
For myself and so many of my friends, our gardens have become havens to share with each other and to support our health and well-being.
I find that the beauty and structure of individual plant form, colour and texture, as well as their combination, provides me with joy and inspiration every day.
Thank you.
Patricia, that’s one aspect that we didn’t mention – thank you so much for bringing it up. Yes, individual plants can be so fascinating, I can be moved almost to tears by the beauty of say, a perfect rose. I simply can’t think of another pastime that gives so much pleasure in so many different ways – despite Caroline’s hilarious moans at the end of this week’s article! We are all delighted that you enjoy our Saturday morning offerings – long may it be so. All the best from Elaine and the other two……
I love to be outside listening to the birds, planting and weeding and hoping I’ll see the fruits of my labour the following season!
My favourite time is a Sunday afternoon when I can pop something in the oven after gardening, soak in a hot bath while it cooks then enjoy it with a nice refreshing glass of wine!
Ooooh Lydia, your Sunday afternoons sound JUST the ticket! Elaine here. There has actually been a recent study done on the therapeutic effect of listening to birdsong and you’re right, it has a calming influence on one’s soul, somehow. Mind you, when I’m filming for the3Growbags, the background birds can drown out my voice if I forget my microphone, particularly if they are Eastbourne seagulls! Thank you for writing in with your recipe for the perfect wind-down after a day in the garden. All the best and happy gardening, from all of us.
Arrived at our French house last night and the first thing I do is check out the garden.
My new windbreak on the G&T patio, is a line of five laurels lovingly nurtured in the UK (shhh) I brought them over as 12 inch saplings two years ago and they are now taller than me. So my well-being word is “pride“.
I do have to make a quick comment about technology though… It allows me to sit in Pas de Calais and watch “Last night of the Proms” on my iPad this evening. Thank you for your weekly smile xx
That’s exactly what I do too, when I arrive, Linda! Can’t wait to find out what’s happened in the garden during my absence – to be honest, in my case it’s not ALWAYS pride that I experience as I look around at collapsed climbers and rampant jungle, but it’s thrilling nevertheless. Very glad to hear that the technology is playing ball for you – we 3Growbags sometimes have three techno malfunctions a day between us, but isn’t it wonderful when it delivers! Thank you for writing in, hope you keep on enjoying what we do, all the best, Elaine and the other two…….