Mental health and gardening

Yes there is a lot of emphasis on this but for those of us who have mental health issues - in my case depression and anxiety - being out in the garden for a while is a wonderful tonic. If you’re not in need of that, be thankful.

Sidelined I agree with your comment about finding gardening quite stressful - same here. My friend has kindly helped me get my largish garden under control now I am worried things will die and watering has become an exhausting chore.

if things don’t improve soon I might need to take a break from all things gardening-related for the sake f my mental health!

This made me smile. Joan Bakewell once said that she hated gardening because it was just outdoor housework.😂

I’m a very keen gardener and it does wonders for my mental health but I agree with you about the constant ramming home of the message.

We found that gardening caused us stress by always needing to be done in the same way that housework is always there. We employ a gardener and cleaners.

I find I get more MH benefits out of walks in say local Botanical Gardens where I can get the benefits but not have so much responsibility with a big garden! I'd concentrate on lovely outdoors spaces where there are around and maybe cafes.

I’d say the same about housework as you’re saying about gardening Sidelined. The sheer grind of housework, with no reward at the end other than maintaining the status quo is enough to depress anybody. The garden though is constantly evolving, and your effort is richly rewarded with beauty and produce, I absolutely love it - and I’m sure it’s good for my mental health because I forget everything else while I’m out there. To each her own I guess.

(where there are people around.)

I've never understood the attraction of gardening. If it's nice enough to garden it's the sort of weather you want to sit and sunbathe in. If it's awful why on earth would you want to go out at all?

If it works that’s great and I mean it! I have my own MH problems but gardening doesn’t do the trick for me and I feel a failure because I come from naturally green-handed gardeners. As others have said, it’s another chore that demands my attention.

I guess it’s the constant making the point about the MH benefits that irritates. TV companies/media grab a catch phrase and wear it out! It’s counter-productive in my view.

Some people are born gardeners I think, and some aren’t. Did anybody else do Candide for A Level French many moons ago, because that’s what it brings to mind for me, “Il faut cultiver notre jardin”, we must cultivate our garden. The concept of gardening being good for your mental health has been around for a very long time.

However, it does beg the question Sidelined - why are you watching Gardeners World anyway if you dislike gardening? Switch it off, problem solved.

Well, I certainly got stressed today when DH pruned my camellia!

"I thought I'd surprise you" he said.

Not to belittle MH problems in any way. I know when a relative was having problems and found her career very stressful and her marriage had broken down , she gave up her job and worked in a plant nursery.
She said she loved it, it was calming and it helped her a lot.

Glorianny

I've never understood the attraction of gardening. If it's nice enough to garden it's the sort of weather you want to sit and sunbathe in. If it's awful why on earth would you want to go out at all?

😂😂😂

My Bottlebrush is going great guns!!

Casdon, I began watching in hope something would click but now we watch religiously every week because OH (who never gardens I should add but likes it looking nice) is hooked

Sidelined

Casdon, I began watching in hope something would click but now we watch religiously every week because OH (who never gardens I should add but likes it looking nice) is hooked

Do you maybe need to hone in on one plant or group you really love, and learn how to look after them really well to raise your enjoyment levels? You could put mulch down on the borders to reduce weeding and save time on the elements you don’t like, and indulge your passion for herbs, roses or whatever?

Maybe some people are just trying too hard for perfection. Re-wilding is important now given the reduction in the numbers of many birds and butterflies.

When we moved to Suffolk in 1986 we gained a 1 acre field which hadn't sprayed. It had some orchids and other wild flowers. We kept if and just mowed paths so that we could enjoy walking about in it. It was mowed once a year in autumn, after the seeds had set. When we sold the house the couple who bought it, particularly the husband, were enthralled with it. He has revived our little vineyard (50 vines) and continues to maintain it for wildlife.

Now that we are in France, with a larger plot we have again created wild flower meadows. We do have a garden next to the house which is fenced, to keep the dogs in and the deer out. Sadly the fence doesn't keep the hedgehogs out. On the rare occasions when one turns up in the garden, usually at night, the dogs if they are out go beserk and I have to put leads on them in order to drag them off.

We get so much pleasure from the variety of wild flowers that appear over the year (over 100) as well as the birds and insects.

As we are getting older gardening in the English way with herbaceous borders is getting more difficult and we have moving towards more shrubs and also using weed mat and gravel. We are also planting more silver leaved plants which are better suited to the conditions here. I can't kneel but am content to stand for hours cutting back roses once they've finished flowering. It is a soothing operation I think.

I'm experimenting with chop and drop - prunings etc stay where they land (but not on the gravel)

kittylester

My Bottlebrush is going great guns!!

Mine is very sad this year, I must save it!! 😲

its not difficult. Gardening is one of many activities that CAN BE good for your menatl health, the same as many kinds of craft, walking, reading singing and so on. Gardening has the additional benefit of involving physical exercise BUT like many other activities, its only beneficial if you enjoy it. I would say to the OP if you don't enjoy it then why do it? Rewilding doesn't mean letting the place go to rack and ruin. Mine is a wild garden and it takes more work than if it was neat and tidy because you have to control the wildness. I love my garden and working in it. I don't care if its good or bad for me, I'd do it anyway.

Sidelined

Casdon, I began watching in hope something would click but now we watch religiously every week because OH (who never gardens I should add but likes it looking nice) is hooked

Well that is brilliant, if he's doing most of it.

I'd feel different if I just had a wee garden to take care of. I've. stopped watching GW as cant cope with a very big one.

I'm sick to death of them constantly banging on about the benefits to mental health - the nature programmes do it too. I don't know who they are aiming at. Those of us who love gardening - and are likely to be watching - have already realised it is good for us. People with mental health problems who don't like gardening aren't likely to be watching!

My bottlebrush is about ready to flower just got these in the photo off the allotment and I can tell you they are so tasty

My gardens ( front and back) which aren’t big look after themselves I don’t have a manicured garden everything grows where it wants and they wander round from year to year The cowslips were in a totally different area this year and the poppies are all coming up on the opposite side of the garden to where they were last year, I love it
I do bits and bobs when I feel like it and because it’s partly wild I don’t have to weed as they all grow where they want
It’s amazing

I spent nineteen years living in places that were challenging in gardening terms, and never a long term proposition, so when we bought a house of our own, I went to work on the garden with a will. I never thought about whether it was good for my mental health - sometimes it was downright frustrating and ruinously expensive (rather like fishing which is also supposed to be good for your mental health!) - but physically it was a workout. When we moved to this house, there wasn’t a single flowering plant in the garden at all. All that changed - but now there’s only me and it’s challenging me again. When it comes together, though, the satisfaction I feel surpasses everything.

Eddiecat78 - my thoughts exactly!