The power of growing green

Eleven years ago, just after I got married and had my first baby, I became obsessed with the garden at our holiday home in Devon. The mess and chaos filled me with a sense of despair but the romance of its exuberance also filled me with a strange desire to get out there and do something. But I had no idea where to begin.

I began to tentatively tinker without knowing what on earth I was doing. But it turned out that it didn’t really matter.  What mattered was the process of what I was doing.  I wanted to know more so I went on a few courses. I began writing about gardening. My knowledge and skills improved but what I loved was the same  – when I was gardening I often became totally immersed in what I was doing: the cutting, the digging, the planting, the smell of the soil, the successes, the failures and then the glorious exhaustion and aching muscles at the end of the day. It made me happy.

It’s not just the body that is affected by the soil. The visual pleasure gained from looking at a beautiful garden has been shown to significantly reduce levels of cortisol. The act of planting and growing can be part of a personal journey but also part of a wider one, which in turn benefits the individual.

In a survey of their members, The International Allotment Society found that even though members tended allotments to provide fresh food for their families, over a quarter of members found that the main benefit was getting outside and socialising, enjoying the sense of being part of a community.  Allotments are often located in heavily built up areas and housing estates. Their very existence raises biodiversity levels in inner cities and creates vital ‘green corridors’ which stop wildlife becoming trapped by impassable concrete.

In the UK, Maggie’s Cancer centres (groundbreaking therapeutic spaces to help cancer patients) are built by cutting edge architects to provide solace, care and information to patients with cancer. The gardens are intrinsic parts of the whole build, with gardening groups run to help combat the sense of social isolation that is an often overlooked outcome of cancer diagnosis. As well as keeping the garden at the Centres looking beautiful, taking part in a gardening group can improve strength and muscle tone through physical activity, as well as connect people.  When asked why they liked to take part in the groups, a visitor replied, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”.

To garden is physical work, but it is through this physical process that we can reconnect with the nature, the soil, and the rhythms of the seasons. It is an act that provides spiritual and emotional nourishment. Gifford believes that there is a “democratisation of gardening sweeping the world” as we find ourselves in a society where every aspect has increased connectivity online, yet can be so very physically and emotionally isolated.

In the absence of other cultural institutions that have bound us together historically, such as the church or civic duty, people are increasingly looking at ways to reconnect to themselves and nature. As Gifford says,  “the simplest way is pushing a seed into a pot of soil and watching it grow. Being pulled away from the cadences of the natural world is not inevitable and can and should be reversed. There is much to be positive about”.

So fight the battle against feeling dislocated, isolated, bored, confused, lonely, tired or angry with dirty hands, dirty knees, lungfuls of air, sun on your back, rosy cheeks and a vase of sweet peas for summer.

Spring is the perfect time to introduce more growing into your life. Don’t try to do lots of things at once, as this tends to lead to expensive mistakes, such as unnecessary kit or the wrong plants and then giving up entirely.

Planting for winter interest is always a good idea and many of these shrubs have fantastic scent. Winter box (Sarcococca confusa) has a powerful, jasmine-like scent from its white star-shape flowers. Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postil’ has clusters of highly scented, deep pink flowers. Both of these can be in pots by your front door to perk up the long winter months with beauty and perfume.