Designing Your Garden for Better Mental Health

(StatePoint) Gardening is not only a means for beautifying outdoor spaces and growing delicious foods. According to those who spend significant time in the yard, getting outside can also support your wellbeing.

“Gardening is good for the mind, it’s good for the soul and it’s good for the body,” said legendary football coach, Vince Dooley. “I enjoy coming out to garden, and when I finish, I feel like I’ve done something, and I feel good.”

Landscape architect Doug Scott of Redeem Your Ground recently visited Dooley in Athens, Ga. to discuss gardening and mental health. Here are some of the insights they shared:

Health Benefits

• Active benefits: Gardening exercises the body and clears the mind. Studies show that increased outdoor exposure leads to fewer long-term health problems, helping improve cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, strength, and dexterity—all leading to better mental health. Simply planting, growing, harvesting and maintaining plants gives you a direct emotional boost. Why? Gardening helps foster nurturing instincts and restores a sense of hope and purpose, ultimately improving self-esteem.

• Passive benefits: Don’t have a green thumb? Don’t worry. Scientific evidence proves that just being in nature has positive impacts on stress levels and brain chemistry. It can also lower blood pressure, increase concentration and improve mood. What’s more, being outdoors offers a deeper sense of belonging and a new sense of purpose outside the daily grind.

Designing Your Garden

Scott advises designing your garden to reflect how you want to live outside. He typically builds “rooms” connected by meandering paths for resting, unwinding, and feeling restored. However, your outdoor spaces don’t always need to be quiet. They can encourage activity as well. If you enjoy company, create gathering spaces. Or, if you have hobbies that can be done outdoors like exercising, painting or writing, you can set aside areas for them.

Finally, Scott recommends designing your garden to awaken your five senses. Here’s how:

1. Sight: Choose calming colors, or those that bring you joy. The simple sight of a breathtaking array of plants or an arrangement of favorite flowers is bound to give your mental health a boost.

2. Taste: Growing your own food will provide you with an incredibly rewarding harvest. Not only will you be able to enhance meals with the fruits of your labor, you’ll get the personal satisfaction of a job well done.

3. Hearing: Among the plants and flowers, add fixtures, such as wind chimes and water features, that’ll produce soothing sounds. And with the new habitat you’ve created, you’ll enjoy bird song, too!

4. Touch: From the light, feathery textures of petals to the rough surfaces of bark or bush stems, touch offers a deeper sense of connection to nature.

5. Smell: You may already use aromatherapy indoors. Take this concept outside by growing fragrant flowers and herbs, so you can literally “stop to smell the roses.”

Scott and Dooley offer more insights in “Garden Therapy,” a recent episode of “Done-In-A-Weekend Projects,” an original series from lawn care equipment manufacturer, Exmark. To watch the video, visit Backyard Life, which is part of a unique multimedia destination with a focus on helping homeowners make the most of outdoor spaces. There you can also download additional tips and view other Exmark Original Series videos.

By gardening, your mental health will be better off for it. Just be sure to start small, simple and stress-free.

PHOTO SOURCE: Exmark

PHOTO CAPTION: Landscape architect Doug Scott says gardening is good for the mind.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Landscaping/Gardening Information:

Related Articles

Avoiding Unsightly Algae
Excessive organic matter in the pond provides nutrients foralgae, contributing to its growth. Algae can obscure the view ofcolorful fish, and more dangerously, it robs the water ofvaluable oxygen and releases harmful pollutants.
Sunflowers
Hi there,I am Jhon Saunders and recently took up gardening as a hobby. i have managed to buy cheap gardening equipment and also items such as blubs, lights etc.
How to Make Your Own Rooting Hormone
When starting a new plant from a leaf or stem cutting, thecutting will be more likely to form roots and create a newplant if a rooting hormone is used.While commercial rooting hormone can be used there areorganic homemade versions that work as well.
Store Your Outdoor Furnishings to Make Them Last
In many parts of North America, the end of "porch season" has arrived. Whether you're clearing out for some oncoming bad weather, closing up the cottage for the season, beating the vandals on devil's night, or just retreating to your nest for the winter, you'll want to store away all of your outdoor items with maximum care.
Storm Warnings For Ponds
California has earthquakes; we in the south and east coast have hurricanes. One thing we all share is power outages.
Butterfly House in the Flower Garden
Whenever you decide to look for a butterfly house for your flower garden, you first have to determine what it is you actually want. A search for butterfly houses will yield two different types.
How to Grow Sweet Corn
Purchased corn, whether on the cob or in a can can't compare for taste! Sweet corn is easy to grow in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden with just a little know how and a few corn facts.Corn needs warm soil temperatures (50° - 65° Fahrenheit) to germinate.
A Teak Table - Accent Your Outdoor Decor With One
It's been time consuming, and there have been a lot of hard decisions along the way, but finally you have chosen the perfect outdoor furniture that fits your personality, budget and space. And as you sit on your new favorite chaise lounge, drink balanced precariously on the edge of the flower box to your left, you suddenly realize what your space is lacking: tables.
Adirondack Chairs - How to Care for and Clean Them
Different from any other chair, the Adirondack chair was first created in the late 1800s by Thomas Lee as a means of making something exceptionally comfortable, affordable, and a chair that could be used in the house or backyard. What makes this chair so unique is the overall design.
Nontoxic Pest Control for Your Home and Garden
Pesticides are toxic and, while often effective against pests, can be dangerous for your family and pets. Outdoors, sprayed pesticides might drift on a breeze and dust your vegetable garden or your neighbor's yard.
Vermicomposting - Worm Composters For Eco-Friendly Waste Disposal and Recycling
Worms are not only the gardener's best friend, they are also the recycler's new found best friend as well. Nature's little waste disposal experts have found a new place in eco-conscious household's across the globe as more and more people are catching on to the idea of using worms' special talents to dispose of their organic household waste.
Garden Sheds - More Than Just Storage
You may already have a garage or shed in your garden or backyard and its possible that you haven't even considered the prospect of adding a garden shed at all. Any garden implements could easily be stored in the garage or utility area.
Fleur De Lotus: Purity in a Sullied World
Rising from a muddy pond, a lotus flower blossoms. Such epitome of purity in a turbid environment has sparked off much inspiration in ancient oriental literature and Buddhist teachings, shaping a repertoire of odes to the graceful demeanour and refreshing fragrance of the lotus.
Funniest Pond Stories-Part 1, May 2004
Get ready for some gut-wrenching, laugh out loud hilarious pondstories from all over the world..
Herbs: Growing Your Own
The first thing you need to do when deciding to create your own Herb Garden is to decide on the size of the plot of land you want to use. This will depend on what herbs and how much you want to grow.
Garden Room Boundaries
The areas of your landscape can be divided into several sections and areas, which are also known as garden rooms. Garden rooms are spaces where you plant, grow, and display different ideas in gardening in various creative methods.
Wooden You Like to Know? A Primer to Wood Outdoor Furnishings
To many people, wood is the quintessential building material for furniture, both indoor and out. There's a wooden furniture form to suit every budget and décor -- from rustic twig loveseats to classis cedar Adirondack chairs to sophisticated teak tables and benches.
Enjoy Creating and Growing a Sustainable Garden While Feeding Your Family
A sustainable garden means one that can be sustained over time, and would necessarily involve I) growing food you want to eat, so you are motivated to continue growing, II) growing economically, so that it is worthwhile doing, as well as III) taking care of environmental issues, so that the ground will continue to support growing.I) The plants to be grown should be chosen primarily on what your family wants to eat, and what will grow in your locale.
Tuscan Garden Design
If you're looking for a beautiful, old world garden style, then you should look into designing a Tuscan garden design. There are several different things that you can do with a Tuscan garden design, but there are a few things that you should keep in mind if you're planning on a Tuscan garden design.
Brilliant Beetroot!
Are you looking for a truly versatile vegetable to grow and serve? Try beetroot! It has the most amazing colourand texture. Varieties range in colour from gold to deep red/purple and are delicious raw, boiled, baked, pickled and juiced.