Container Gardening: Sowing a Healthy Mind and Body

Gardening, in general, is known to improve mental and physical health and well-being. Container gardening makes this potential more accessible to the masses. Gardening engages all of the senses and thus is never a passive activity. Let’s explore!

The Sense of Sight

View the flora and fauna in your garden space.

The Sense of Hearing

Listen to nature sounds (animals, rustling of greenery, wind) and water features. Below are birdsong of birds common to the New England area, that have visited the Getaway Gardens area.

The Sense of Touch

Dig in the soil. Harvest. Touch the blooms and leaves. Feel the wind on your skin and hair.

The Sense of Smell

Take in the scent of the flora, soil and the outdoors.

The Sense of Taste

Experience the anticipation and gratification of fresh edible crops. Pick your recipe ingredients just outside your door!

Effects of Engaging Your Senses

The combined effect of your senses and opportunities for socialization, are all present in a garden space. It facilitates a sense of purpose and responsibility, calm and relaxation, contentment and acceptance, as well as physical exercise. Reports from gardeners the world over support these claims, and there are numerous scientific and scholarly journal articles that reinforce the importance of gardening and green spaces in the support of mental and physical health.

Why Gardening?

Often times, well-maintained, adequate, easily accessible green spaces are available in areas where the residents have higher socioeconomic status. Thus, many who may gain even greater benefit from their use, are excluded. Gardening offers a way to somewhat balance this inequity. Container gardening is a good solution for those who have limited space, limited ability to commute, and may be unable to have in-ground gardens. For those who do not have space and opportunity at home, community gardens are crucial. Planting and tending to even a single potted plant can be rewarding and improve mood and quality of life.

25% of American adults experience mental illness and 13% worldwide. This includes two of the most common diagnoses, anxiety and depression. Lack of purpose, low self-esteem, fear of the unknown, fear of failing and anxiety over the pressure of achieving perfection, feelings of hopelessness, frequent feeling of being overwhelmed, sadness, fatigue, and loneliness are common reports of individuals who experience these illnesses. While the severity and impairment is greater for those diagnosed with these disorders, many of us can be vulnerable to these feelings in varying degrees, given the pressures of ‘adulting’ including work-life balance and self-care, and the sometimes difficult or unpredictable changes in life.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately one half of adults of lower socioeconomic status or who incurred job loss, reported experiencing symptoms of mental illness, while approximately one third of adults without these challenges, reported these symptoms, as well. According to the World Health Organization, diagnoses of anxiety and depression increased 25% worldwide during the first year of this pandemic. Home gardening grew by leaps and bounds during this time. In recent years, more health professionals are recommending more “fresh air,” moderate exercise and spending more time in green spaces.

Studies have shown that even just the view of flowers and landscapes improves human mood. The view of greenery, bright lush blooms and fruit subconsciously signifies life, growth, prosperity and health. Not to mention, many results of studies in color psychology (where the relationship between colors and emotions are explored), link the color green with contentment, joy, calm and serenity. Having a role in the creation and maintenance of a visually pleasing landscape, that offers you a feeling of contentment, can be rewarding, contributes to a sense of purpose, and can be an act of self-care.

Relaxation and Comfort

Many of us need an outlet or a place to unplug, self-reflect, and take a break from the noise and stress of our everyday lives. Many also find that their gardens can be that place. In it, you can include the sights that you find satisfying, the scents that you find pleasing, textures that you find comforting, and whether grown or transplanted there, the tastes that you enjoy. Whether you come to your garden space to meditate while the chirp of birds, blowing wind and buzz of pollinators play in the background; relax and mentally prepare for the day with that first morning coffee or tea; escape to center and regroup; relax with a snack or cocktail; read, write, draw, paint or listen to music; unwind and reflect at the end of the day; or spend some quality time with family and friends, a garden is often a place of peace and relaxation. Being in nature has also been known to assist in lowering blood pressure and stress.

Try Something New

Tending to a garden can help those struggling to engage in activity or negatively impacted by the fear of uncertainty, find not only a sense of purpose, but a routine. While you may not know all of what may happen during your garden visit, each day you likely have a scheduled time and plan or to-do list. While there will at times be unexpected garden tasks or challenges, research and planning before you start your garden, means that you will likely have all the supplies and “How to” resources you need to rise to the occasion. Meeting or withstanding these challenges increases confidence, self-satisfaction, and promotes resilience. And if you ever need help, there is a whole community online ready to lend assistance, including Getaway Gardens!

Let’s Get Physical!

While there is more work and calories to be burned tending to an in-ground garden, container gardening has its physical and physiological benefits, as well. While the most labor intensive part is the container arrangement and preparation, transplanting, pruning, pest inspection/treatment, watering, harvesting, provide gardeners the benefits of stretching, walking and other light exercise.

Increased physical activity raises your serotonin and endorphin levels, which promotes calm and improves your mood. Many are more likely to engage in additional physical or social activities after engaging in such activities. Not to mention, outdoor exposure to sunlight increases Vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is a hormone necessary for an improved immune system, decreasing inflammation, and promoting healthy bones. Sunlight exposure also decreases melatonin, which gives the mind a pep.

Gardening tasks can be segmented or compartmentalized to simplify, and thus also an activity in which the very young, the old, and dependent upon severity, the cognitively impaired, can participate.

Healthy Eating

Let’s face it, most store-bought produce does not taste as good as freshly grown food from gardens and farms. Not to mention, with the use of pesticides, herbicides and runoff in commercial farming enterprises, and treatment necessary to minimize spoiling in order to transport some produce across great distances, new produce finds its way to Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) dirty dozens list each year.

For the most part, if you grow it, you know what is in it and where it has been. Not to mention, with healthier choices to supplement your snacking or meals mere steps away, it’s a lot easier to make that healthier food choice.

Redefining Success: Finding Harmony in Best Efforts

Gardening is also a good place to let go of the pressures of expected perfection and the need to constantly exact control. When working with nature, one already has a good excuse to simply do the best that he/she can and permission to not have all the answers. Why you ask? Because it is obvious that versus Mother Nature, we are outmatched. There will be surprises at times, as well as things we cannot predict. Some surprises will be welcome, while others, at first, will be seen as challenges. Gardening teaches you to adapt, use your tools and the information available to you, to maintain or reinvent your garden oasis if need be. Mistakes and acts of nature are merely lessons, to prepare you for future garden adventures, and to appreciate all the gardening wins, big and small.

Socialization

One obvious way that a garden can be the means for socialization, is if your garden is also used as a space to entertain and gather to catchup with family and friends, but there is more.

Gardening, even container gardening, can be a group activity. Whether gardening as a team is used for companionship or to split the burden of cost and labor, in such a dynamic, you are bound to build camaraderie, engage with your partners and learn about each other’s lives and interests.

Furthermore, gardening is a universal hobby and interest. You can mention gardening in almost any setting, and you are bound to peak the interest of other individuals who also garden and like to exchange stories about their adventures and challenges. Whether out and about town, in your own neighborhoods or joining online forums and blogs, the gardening community is huge, and members are more than willing to assist others obtain that same joy and success that they desire or experience in their gardens.

There have been many a new friendship which began because a gardener knocked on a neighbor’s door or stopped a passing neighbor to offer a part of their harvest. I will be honest. There are many of us who love the process of tending to a garden and watching that blossom bloom and flourish so much that we grow more than we can consume, alone. Peddling your goods to neighbors or exchanging with fellow gardeners can help you along. After all, want not, waste not. **Sidebar: If you anticipate excess and want to donate your produce, visit Ample Harvest to find donation locations near you.

If you are ready to try something new and get your hands a little dirty to be a warrior for your personal peace and health, and maybe even help others gain theirs, review the links for our posts below to learn how to get started with your very own container garden, and join our Getaway Gardens community. Remember…It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so enjoy the journey!

Get Started!

How to Customize Your Container Garden Arrangement

Getting Ahead of the Game: In 7 Easy Steps

The Pursuit of Food Security: Starting a Modest Container Garden

Reimagining Your Growing Area: Introducing the Vertical Container Garden

Hello Spring! Now Let’s Get to the Good Part!

Additional Reading

Below are just a few of the many articles and opinions written regarding the positive effects of gardening on mental and physical health. Please explore, and do your own research and decide what is best for you.

Everyday Health: How Gardening Became the Self-Care Staple I Never Knew I Needed

Psychology Today: 10 Mental Health Benefits of Gardening

NIH affiliated: Gardening for Health: a regular dose of gardening

CDC affiliated: Quality of Life Benefits of Urban Rooftop Gardening for People With Intellectual Disabilities or Mental Health Disorders

Featured Image by Katvya PK on Unsplash