Weed It and Reap
Published Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Weed It and Reap
By Lily Colquhoun, Prevention and Screening Clinical Services
When you hear the word ‘garden’, you likely have visions of pretty flowers, right? Did you know that including vegetables in your home garden could be beneficial to your financial, physical, and mental health? In addition to providing a low cost source of fresh food, gardening is an excellent opportunity for physical activity and can boost mood.
With the cost of produce increasing, what better way to source veggies than straight from your own backyard? Picking fruits and veggies straight from the garden gives the added benefit of eating produce at its peak nutritional value. Planting and maintaining your own garden also allows the choice to avoid pesticides, making organic foods less expensive.
Roots to Harvest, a local non-profit organization, visited Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre in early June and sold a variety of tomato plants to staff, patients and visitors. Erin Murphy has been with Roots to Harvest since 2020 and shared her thoughts on what makes gardening a good alternative to buying produce at a supermarket.
“If you grow food of your own, you know it is good food, which makes your tummy happy, which makes your brain happy,” Murphy shared.
Gardening is also an excellent type of physical activity that provides all three types of exercise: aerobic, flexibility, and strength. It works all of the large muscle groups in our bodies including our legs, buttocks, arms, shoulders, neck, back, and abdomen. Whether you’re hoeing the earth, weeding the bed, or lifting a bag of soil, being active through gardening can help lower our risk for heart disease, cancers, and other chronic diseases.
Aaron Oja has been working with Roots to Harvest since 2018 and has seen the positive effects of gardening firsthand.
“Gardening facilitates connection between people and the land. It gets kids and younger people outside and in the sunlight, increasing serotonin and dopamine levels to brighten their mood and energy.”
Aside from the benefits of nature and fresh air, gardening is also a great way to improve mental health. Just being outdoors in the garden can reduce anxiety, depression, and stress, while making us feel more peaceful and content. Gardening can also give us a sense of purpose and satisfaction growing and nurturing plants from seeds to vegetables.
For more information on how you can reap the perks of planting a garden, visit https://bit.ly/10gardeningbenefits.