With the Covid times we are faced with at the moment, I find vegetable growing a good distraction from the world. I can potter about in my back garden focusing only on the seeds or plants or vegetables forming which takes your mind away from the busy life we lead at work or at home.

I have been a stay at home mother for the past 2 years although now I’ve returned to work. But with the stresses of looking after a child all day, I needed a break. Some mothers may go and have their hair cut, have a glass off wine, read a book etc which are all great ways to switch off and relax but my piece of stress free heaven is the Vegetable Garden.

It’s not all about the vegetables either, sometimes I just like to sit amongst nature, I feel time has stopped in my world but in the world of nature, busy bees are getting pollen from the flowers, dragonflies are dancing around to find the water source, ants are scurrying around trying to find food and birds are picking off the ripe grapes from next doors vines because they have forgot to net them! It’s all part of a calm serenity which I can’t find anywhere else.

Studies show that gardening is invaluable for stress, anxiety, depression, any psychological suffering and even if you are just tired from a stressful day at work. Gardening removes negative emotions by distraction through colour and scent.

Certain colours mainly reds and oranges invigorate your emotions and help the brain to recharge and other colours like greens and blues have a calming effect on our brains. Scents like lavender and herbs like rosemary evoke feelings and happy memories which bring positive emotions.

Gardening is also good for your physical health as it has been proven that 30 minutes of gardening is equivalent to burning the same number of calories in a game of badminton.

Growing your own vegetables has a number of benefits:

• Being fit and healthy by growing and eating your own vegetables
• Help with the environment by cutting plastic waste on packaging
• Reducing food waste by being able to pick your own vegetables as you need them or learn ways to deal with a glut
• Supporting an insect ecosystem in your back garden

Out of this calm, comes seed sowing and plant maintenance and yes even a little stress itself when one or two plants get attacked by pests, but most of the time it’s pretty simple to grow vegetables, good compost + sunlight + water = vegetables.

Why do I grow vegetables?

• To switch off or de-stress from work or home life
• To achieve something from growing from seed to harvesting a vegetable
• To be close to nature
• To share the harvest with family and friends
• To teach my daughter about where food comes from
• to be outdoors in the fresh air

If you would like to take the first steps to growing your own vegetables, then continue reading my blog for more details.