Garden to empower, out the anxiety

It was Mental Health Awareness Week: Monday 15 May- Sunday 21 May 2023. To coincide with this week I chose my post “Garden to empower, out the anxiety”

The theme for 2023 was Anxiety, which is one of the most common mental health conditions.

Consequently, The Mental Health Foundation has found that a quarter of adults reported feeling anxious. More information can be found at https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week

In essence, anxiety can become extremely disruptive to our general wellbeing.

With this in mind, gardening can be fabulous to promote wellbeing and help to weed out anxiety. I know this from personal experience and from helping others.

My story can be found here Wonderful powers of a flower

Weeding out anxiety and garden to empower

I enjoy weeding, especially those stubborn weeds that are intent on taking over the garden! An example would be ground elder. This one spreads via rhizomes (underground stems), which can regenerate from just a teeny tiny fragment left in the ground.

Whereas other weeds, such as hairy bittercress can just be pulled out or removed with a hoe. It is especially important to remove these before they set seed.

The photo above is a joint effort, with helpful Tallulah Tulip, to dig the pesky ground elder out.

Usually, all the chickens are helping but I think they were busy elsewhere in the garden.

As a result of our efforts, that border now appears clear. Although a beady eye will be kept on the area for more sightings springing up.

I bet that weed is still in there lurking underground!

Equally importantly, for operation “weed zero”, my chickens were great companion gardeners. Indeed, they made me laugh throughout the day.

From seed to flower

I have been sowing seeds and planting flowers for pollinators for over 30 years and it is so rewarding. You achieve a beautiful garden and know that you are helping your busy pollinators too.

With this in mind, you can join me in sowing your own flowers, for your garden, a courtyard, some pots on a balcony, anywhere!

Garden to empower, sowing hardy annuals

Now is still a good time to sow some hardy annual seeds. These are flowers that will germinate, grow, flower, and die in one year.

They can be sown straight into the ground or in pots outside.

Of course, the soil will be warming up now it is May, so seeds will quickly germinate. In order to start growing, they do need some warmth to start them off.

Examples of annual flowers are cornflowers, poached egg plants and echium blue bedder.

My post Sowing bee beautiful hardy annuals gives more information on flowers to sow.

Sowing half hardy annuals

Similarly, half-hardy annuals which cannot tolerate frost, can also be direct sown now. Examples are flowers such as cosmos and zinnia.

Beautiful flowers, to bloom for months. Therefore, well worth sowing some seeds.

My post How to grow cosmos for pollinators gives you more information on growing beautiful cosmos.

To demonstrate their beauty, see two photos below of my flowers last year.

From seed to tasty meals

Growing fruit and vegetables supplies us with fresh, tasty, and nutritious food. Eating healthy food regularly helps us to regulate our blood sugar.

Subsequently, this gives us the energy we need to live well. A garden to empower literally.

Therefore we should Include more whole grains, fruits and vegetables in our diet.

In addition, these contain the vitamins and minerals our brain and body needs to stay well.

Tomatoes, lettuce and courgettes are easy to grow.

With this in mind, I can now share some new posts about growing vegetables and fruit. These posts are a welcome return visit for The Chief Gardener. The Chief Gardener’s beautiful vegetables The Chief Gardener grows a tasty fruit feast

He also starred in a previous post A powerful gardening for wellbeing story.

Some final thoughts

To conclude, becoming a gardener allows us to connect with other people. This is tremendously beneficial for wellbeing and for helping with anxiety.

In addition, the process of growing flowers and vegetables inspires hope and the sense of looking forward. In particular, I believe gardening is absolutely integral to benefiting mental health and anxiety. Garden to empower really does work.

The plants we grow need nurturing to flower or produce crops, which in turn nurtures us. In addition, learning new skills often leads to a fabulous boost to self-confidence.

Also, gardening allows us to interact with nature which can be calming and relaxing.

Plus, producing vegetables and fruit or learning how to grow flowers from seed can give a sense of achievement and pride, which boosts self esteem.

I hope I have given you some reasons to start gardening and improve your wellbeing.

Final photo of this post: Remus Nautilus, my lovely black cat. He certainly knows how to relax. Let’s all relax after a spot of gardening, albeit, on a chair, a garden bench, a lounger or a hammock perhaps!

I do fancy a hammock and I have noticed that Amazon have some jazzy ones with a stand. The reviews look very positive too. Click here for the link https://amzn.to/3NiP2Vj

This blog is an affiliate member of amazon affiliates. If you purchase using the link above, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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