Welcome to Gardening with Ben, the podcast where we dig into the soil of
our gardens and the depths of our green funds. I'm your host, Ben,
here to guide you through the joints of gardening, from sowing seeds to
reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode will explore tips, tricks, and tails from
the garden and allotment, sharing insights from ourself and stories from our own back
garden adventures. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just getting your hands dirty for
the first time, there's something here for everyone, So grab your brew and
gardening gloves and let's get growing. With Gardening with Ben, Hello, and
welcome to Gardening for the Mind, the podcast where we cultivate not just our
gardens, but are our mental well being. In this space, we explore
the tranquil and therapeutic power of gardening and how it interwines with our mental health.
This episode is a journey through as soothing world of plants and nature,
uncovering how the simple act of gardening can nurture our minds, uplift our spirits,
and bring harmony to our lives. Whether you are season gardener or just
starting to plant our first seed, join us as we delve into the calming
and restorative effects of connecting with the earth. Let's grow garden together. Now,
let's turn the soil and turn our minds into peace. So welcome to
this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you're all enjoying these episodes.
This week. We're having quite a few pre recorded so that you've got episodes
popping out regularly for you all to listen to. So yesterday we talked about
the best garden magazines out there to read and the benefits of behind the garden
magazines, So if you've not listened to that episode, make sure you do
have a listen. And today's episode were to be talking about mental health and
gardening. And this is something that's very close to my heart because I do
struggle with mental health and I'm openly saying that, and yeah, I do
struggle a lot. And the mental health side of it is that I struggle
with is a lot of the time loneliness and living on my own and not
seeing many people. And I struggle around that, and that's one of the
reasons why I go on TikTok a lot, going live on there so that
I can chat to people and see people, or I'll often go out to
the pub just so that I'm not in the flat on my own, as
it does get lonely being on your own. And one thing that does help
with my mental health is going to my a lotment, go into my garden.
I haven't got a guarden myself, but I've got my allotment, so
it's like ten to fifteen minutes drive and I'm at my allotment. And one
of the things that was where I moved out from my parents is whether I
want to carry on having my allotment, even though I'd have to commute further
to get there, And that was one reason behind it. I didn't want
to give it up because it's that open space, that open bit of land
where I can just go and enjoy being out in the fresh air. And
obviously I work shifts, so I work night shifts a lot, so sometimes
i won't go out for like four days because I'm on night shifts, and
I'll only see the dark because by the time I wake up, it's dark
again, and when I'm going to bed, it's dark, so all I'll
see is dark, which isn't very good for the mental health and for the
mind. So that's one of the reasons why I do love having my allotment
is because obviously I'm outside in the fresh air and peace with the birds around
me. And there's nothing better than being in the garden listening to the birds,
looking at all the wildlife, seeing the new things what are popping through
the ground, even if it's a weed, You're seeing new bursts of life
coming through into the garden. And it does help your mind a lot.
And gardening is so good for my mental health. I can't believe how much
it does help. Once you've been out in the garden, being out in
the allotment for an hour, your mind certainly does feel a lot better because
you switch off when you're gardening. You're just digging away, feeling for the
worms. And if you're like me, I like to do gardening bare handed.
I never like to have gloves on. I like to get the soil
between my fingers, and even if they do get mucky and filthy, I
like to get the hands in the soil. And the art study is that
it is good using just your bare hands for digging and getting them into the
soil. And obviously gardening it is good for stress relief and relieving that stress.
Whether it's hitting wood into the ground, whether it's even if you're getting
a bit frustrated, just get a hammer out and smash some wood up or
just dig some ground up. It's a good destressor being out in the garden.
And obviously there's now certain things that you can do. You can have
sensory gardens with special sensory equipment and stimulations which help all the five sensors for
mental health benefits. So if that's something that you want to look at sensory
garden information online, it's not something that I know about. Hopefully need to
start looking about a sensory garden. Stuff that i'd be very interesting for me
and what benefits it can do for you. Maybe that's something I need to
start looking into and doing it more. And obviously when you're growing your own
fruit and vegetables as well, Yeah, growing fresh produce and fresh produce and
healthy produce is also good for the brain and for the mind and stuff like
that as obviously. I've also one of the times I went to the doctors
and I thought I was struggling a lot, and they said it was because
I've got low follic acid and that can affect the brain and the well being.
And they said to start eating more greene broccoli and stuff like that.
So growing your own produce helps that way as well, and it's good for
stuff like that. It can even help with your anxiety and depression because,
like I say, just switch off. When you're down at the allotment,
you just turn off. I've got my music listening to, I've got my
favorite tracks, and I'm not thinking about anything. When I'm guardening. My
mind just switches off. I'm lighting a different zone. It's a bit like
meditation, a bit yeah, like yoga. You switch off when you're doing
it. You're up in your mind and you just listen to the nature around
you. And that's why I tend to go to the allotment as much as
I do. And sometimes I don't even do any gardening when I'm down at
the allotment. I'll admit that sometimes I don't do anything. I'm just sat
there on my nice new chair which I've purchased and sitting in and you seating
area, just sitting there, just watching the allotment and just looking around and
taking in all the nice colors and all the beautiful things around me seeing all
the bees flying around. I've put my bird feeders up so it's attracting the
birds to it. I can just sit there and look and enjoy them.
So if you do struggle with your mental health trying to track that wildlife to
your allotment, I've spoke about it in one of my Plots podcasts, trying
to track some whilred life to your plot and again seeing all the different wildlife
popp into your allotment while you sat there just looking it amazes me. And
we've got the Big Bird Count coming up as well, the Big Bird Watch
coming up soon. So the more birds that he's starting to get into your
plot, you can help count them birds and submit them to the RSPC A
I think it is, but you can submit them. But yeah, without
my allotment, I don't know what I'd do. If I didn't have my
allotment, I'd just stay in my flat all day. I wouldn't do anything
like say send in my podcast yesterday. I've not been to my allotment for
a couple of days, so I've not left my flat and it's awful.
It's norful not going to your allotment. And the reason behind it is because
it's freezing cold. I could have actually gone if I wanted to, but
I thought it was freezing cold. I'll have a lie, I'll stay in,
I'll do some jobs at them, I'll record these podcasts. But yeah,
it's awful not going out and not seeing anybody. So that is as
so good. But I'll struggle with mental health poorly for years to come.
But the more that you can do to help it, the better you can
do. So if you're struggle with mental health, get out in that garden,
even if it's just for fifteen twenty minutes a day to do a bit
of weeding or a bit of sweeping, or just going around touching the leaves
and feeling for nature. It's definitely worth while. So yeah, I'll probably
go a bit more into my mental health issues later on in the podcasts,
but that's just a little area and a little insight into what I struggle with.
It's not I don't always talk about my mental health issues. I know
we should do more. Even the doctors are looking at prescribing people onto gardening
courses they've seen me and getting them into gardening because it is proven that gardening
is good for the mental health. So watch this space. More and more
people might getting into it, and it's good that people are getting into it.
And at the end of the day, like I always say, you
get fresh produce from it as well. So keep trying, keep getting out
of that garden, keep enjoying it, even if it's cold. Just go
out in the garden for a bit. And remember, keep smind, keep
shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone, And that wraps up another
episode of Gardening with Ben. Thank you for joining me in this journey.
Remember, every seed planted is a step towards a greener world, and every
day is a chance to grow something beautiful. Keep nurturing your gardens and your
souls. Until next time, I'm gardening with Ben, reminding you to let
your garden be your sanctuary. Happy gardening, and see you in the next
episode. Remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.