9 Benefits of Gardening for Older Adults
Gardening is good for the soul, but it’s also good for the body and mind. In fact, it has a wide range of health benefits for older adults. Whether you’re a newbie to the gardening world or an experienced green thumb, there are countless ways gardening can promote your well-being. Keep reading to find out more!
1. The Chance to Nurture
Boomers are at a stage of life when their children and grandchildren are grown and often busy. Many older adults may suffer from “empty nest syndrome.” The desire to nurture is a fundamental part of human nature. Fortunately, gardening provides older adults the opportunity to take care of something again. Buying, planting, and watching a flower or food source flourish can be highly rewarding and soul-satisfying.
2. Learning Opportunities
People don’t become gardeners overnight. Successful gardens take years of trial and error. Acquiring knowledge of your planting zone, soil composition, and garden pests native to your area can provide ample learning opportunities. Whether it is through books, YouTube videos, or making inquiries at local plant nurseries, gardening will provide a never-ending education. With any kind of gardening, the more you know, the more you’ll want to learn!
3. Socialization
If you’re a social butterfly with the desire to hone or develop a green thumb, I’ve got great news. There are opportunities to join certain organizations to share your hobby with like-minded enthusiasts! A local garden club or plant society can provide you with a direct connection to gardeners in your area. Enthusiasts come into these groups with varying levels of knowledge of various plants. Shared knowledge from fellow gardeners is worth its weight in gold. Tried-and-true gardening advice surpasses a textbook every time. What could be better than cultivating a new friendship while also learning how to cultivate your garden?
4. Exercise
Gardening is great exercise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, getting out in the yard for just 30-45 minutes can burn up to 300 calories. Routine gardening provides a moderate amount of physical activity and helps to strengthen your muscles and body. Whether you are mulching, raking, digging, or weeding, gardening can provide a good workout. Adding focal points to your landscape like arbors, decorative fencing, walkways, and fountains can turn into a labor-intense weekend.
5. Mental Fitness
Gardening is also good for the mind. Landscaping or planning a garden plot takes a good bit of thought. Considering the many factors that will affect your new plant’s or crop’s success begins before the planting season. Planning for weather stress, summer pests, nutrient application, and soil amendment schedules takes mental diligence and deductive reasoning. So, if you want to exercise your brain as well as your body, plant a garden!
6. Stress Relief
Life can often be stressful. What better way to blow off steam and forget your troubles than doing something productive? Gardening can be the perfect remedy to ease hurts and regain perspective. At the end of World War II, gardening was used as a therapy for Holocaust survivors. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom wrote of her sister Betsy’s vision to minister to such souls through gardening. Although her sister didn’t survive the war, Corrie carried out Betsy’s wishes and wrote about the healing power of gardening. The simple act of nurturing flowers and vegetables helped recovering war survivors to focus less on the bitter past and more on the hope for the future.
7. Appreciation of Nature
Many older adults can no longer participate in outdoor activities that they once enjoyed. Gardening gives them an outlet to enjoy the great outdoors once more. Working in the garden is a delight for the senses as it brings you close to nature. You cannot help but feel the warmth of the sun or hear birdsong fill the air. A garden with a water feature provides a wonderfully rhythmic sound akin to a babbling brook. The smell of the soil can take your senses back to the woods you once hiked. Gardening enhances your appreciation of nature.
8. Boosting Self-Esteem
Gardening is perfect for boosting self-esteem. When you garden, you create. A sense of self-satisfaction goes hand in hand with gardening. When a friend or passerby compliments the beauty you created, we guarantee you’ll feel a sense of pride. Knowing that you’re enhancing your home’s beauty and value increases your sense of worth, as well.
9. Giving Reaps Rewards
Share your garden with family, friends, and neighbors. Take a single rose to your sister just because. Dig up a rooted slip of a shrub and give it to a friend, thus giving the gift of a friendship garden. Supply your widowed neighbor with fruits and vegetables through the growing season. Give the kids down the street a pumpkin in October. Giving even has health benefits. Not only can it boost your self-esteem, but it can also alleviate stress.
How to Get Started
Do Your Homework
Before you begin gardening, research the type of garden you want and the plants you want to plant. If you have friends or family members with green thumbs, don’t be afraid to ask them questions. The advice of a seasoned gardener is invaluable.
Start Small
If you’re new to gardening, you can start as small as raising a geranium in a clay pot. Don’t make the mistake of planting too much, especially as a novice. You don’t want to get overwhelmed or disappointed!
Sketch a Design
It doesn’t take a drafting degree to draw a small flower bed or vegetable design. After you’ve researched and decided on the main perennials you want, choose a few tried-and-true annuals to provide instant blooms while your new perennials mature.
Keep Your Garden Tool Costs at a Minimum
While you’ll need a few basic tools, give yourself some time and experience before sinking a lot of money into a hobby that you might ditch in a season or two. Buying a garden tiller too large for your small vegetable garden space will keep you hand-weeding between rows. Sometimes, a couple of shovels and some willing family members are a practical way to give your gardening skills a test drive.
Read and Keep Plant Tags
Know your planting zone before investing in plants that may not be hardy enough to survive an unpredictably cold winter. Heed plant spacing and mature height specifications. Above all, follow plant tag instructions! Plants are happier when they have room to grow and can receive enough airflow. Some plants are invasive in warmer planting zones. Butterfly bushes may grow in your zone, but the tag will warn that they may be invasive. Pay attention. Also, keep your tags in an accessible place and write the year on them and if the plant died. With so many plants to choose from, you could forget from season to season and waste money on plants that just don’t thrive in your yard.
Be Patient and Have Fun
Gardening is not for perfectionists. This hobby takes time and effort. Don’t take the journey too seriously. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your Roma tomatoes won’t ripen in a week. You’ll experience many upsetting losses, but you’ll also have exciting victories. Learn to roll with punches and refuse to give up. The beautiful plants and flowers that fill your yard in the spring and summer will make your efforts worth it.
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Originally published February 01, 2024
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