As I was watering my cherry tomato plant the other morning and marvelling at its beautiful little leaves, it struck me just how happy growing this little thing had made me. The windowsill in the kitchen currently has a few little things I’m growing. I frequently pop by to see how my little seedlings are getting on, and it makes me so happy! I’ve also got a beautiful orange Lily plant outside, and I love checking on it to see how it’s getting on.
It got me thinking about the benefits of gardening, so I did a little bit of research and discovered just how vital gardening is for our bodies and mind.
So let’s learn about the importance of gardening!
It’s Great For Physical Health
Gardening is a physical activity. You’re getting a proper good workout with all the weeding, pulling, pushing, bending, digging, and lifting! Because of this, it helps;
- Reduce Stress
- Lower Blood Pressure
- Strengthen your heart
- Burn Calories
- Build endurance
- Strengthen muscles
Having lower blood pressure and a healthy heart reduces the risk of heart disease and strokes. Also, the time you spend being outside will expose you to sunlight, and Vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential to our health as it helps keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Vitamin D can also help maintain your immune system.
Studies have also found that gardening can help people with dementia.
It’s Great For Mental Health
Gardening is great for helping to reduce feelings of depression and anxiety. As I mentioned above, gardening is exercise. Exercise releases endorphins, and endorphins make you happy!
Gardening gives you something to focus on. As you’re weeding, mowing the grass or potting plants, you focus on the task at hand. Your mind is less likely to have time to wander, compared to watching TV, for example. It can also help you keep a routine in place, which is brilliant for improving your mental health. If you find that you struggle when you don’t have a lot to do, adding watering, pruning or pulling weeds to your daily routine can really help.
Being out in the sunshine is great for boosting your Serotonin levels. Serotonin is a hormone that stabilises your mood and gives feelings of well-being, so it’s excellent for helping to prevent Seasonal Affective Disorder. Serotonin also makes you feel calmer, and who doesn’t want that? Incredibly, did you know that soil can increase your Serotonin levels too? It’s due to containing a specific type of bacteria.
If you opt to grow vegetables, you’ll also eat better. You won’t want all your hard work looking after the vegetable patch to go to waste, will you?
Finally, all that exercise, sunshine and fresh air will do wonders for helping you sleep and night, and we all know how important sleep is for mental health!
It’s Great For Children

Getting kids to play and spend time outside can sometimes feel like an impossible task. So try giving them their own little section of the garden to look after. Make them responsible for watering the plants or vegetables, keeping it weed-free and general upkeep of the area. You could even try and get the whole family involved!
Not only does it help children learn about food and where it comes from, but it will also give them a sense of pride and responsibility as they nurture the seedlings and watch them spring to life!
I have such happy memories of being at my nan’s house when I was a child and helping her in the greenhouse with her tomatoes. They give off a very distinct smell, so I often find myself giving the leaves of the tomato plants I’m growing a good sniff and being instantly transported back to that time.
It’s Great For Nature
Bugs and bees are essential for our environment. They hop from plant to flower to collect pollen to feed the hive. Whilst they do this for food, it also cross-pollinates, which is excellent for plants and wildflowers. Without bees, the human race would not be able to survive!
Bees are able to pollenate on a vast scale, and many fruits and vegetables rely on the bees!
For a few years now, I have seen advice all over social media saying that you should feed tired bees some sugar water. Although this will do in a pinch, it’s not actually too great for the bee. Sugar water is basically junk food for bees! If you see a bee on the floor, the best thing to do is find a daisy, dandelion or even some lavender and place it close to the bee. He will find his way there and get what he needs before moving on. For more information, check out this article by The Little Honey Bee Company.
What If I Don’t Have A Garden?
Just because you don’t have a garden, it doesn’t mean that you have to go without! You could invest in a window planter box to hang outside your home. You could also check your local area to see if there are any community gardens you could join or pay for an allotment. The community garden has the bonus of being able to socialise with people (if you want to!)

Conclusion
And there we have the importance of gardening! Gardening helps just about everything; the bees, reducing stress levels, helping mental health, growing healthy food, and making the world a better place. Whether you are gardening as a hobby or gardening for mental health, I’m sure you will agree that there are many, many health benefits!
I am a complete beginner, but I cannot wait to learn more! I now love nothing more than just spending time in my garden, taking in the incredible view that I created.
The great thing about gardening is that you don’t need a massive space or even a garden to do it! Wikipedia defines gardening as “…the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture.” It doesn’t mention anything about needing an outdoor space (although it does help!)
I haven’t always been obsessed with gardening, it’s only since we started subscribing to Mud and Bloom and I got those first tomato seeds. Before that, all I had was a rose bush and olive tree that I’d been growing for around eight years (they’re incredibly easy to look after!) Still, I’m looking forward to expanding on what I’m already growing and having a little vegetable garden. I have all the seeds waiting to go – carrots, beetroot, radish, lettuce and spring onion. I just need my husband to make the raised garden bed now!
If you enjoy gardening, I recommend following Lisa’s Notebook. She has inspired me to start growing lavender so I can make my own lavender tea! Lisa grows the most beautiful plants and flowers. She also shares monthly updates on her garden and gives advice. Plus, she’s really lovely! It must be something about the name *wink wink*.
So, what are you waiting for? Slap on some sun cream, pop some old clothes and shoes on and get those hands dirty!
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Cover Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
10 comments
I hadn’t even heard of Mud and Bloom before this. I’ll have to investigate. My dad loves to garden – I’ve seen a huge difference in him between the winter (lockdown and shielding so literally just stuck indoors watching TV) and as soon as the hint of spring came, when he went out to start gardening. There really are so many benefits. I hope hubby gets around to that bed soon so you can get planting those seeds!
Caz xx
Thank you so much! We love mud and bloom. It’s for kids but I’m pretty sure I have more fun with it than my little one!
Ah I’m glad that your dad is enjoying gardening, it really does make such a difference to your mindset. Hopefully we’re out the other side of Covid now so that people don’t have to shield anymore ❤️
We have set up a little garden outside our bedroom window, we have both flowers, strawberries and a few veggies. It’s nothing huge, but it’s a nice little activity to distract ourselves from the rest of the worries we might have!
I really enjoy my gardens and watching things change with each season. I really enjoy Lisa’s monthly garden updates too! Thanks for sharing about all the benefits of gardening!
Thank you so much! I aspire to be like Lisa’s notebook! Her garden is beautiful! ❤️
It really is!
I have loved you telling me about your little seeds growing. Glad the little things we got you for Easter instead of chocolate have helped with your mental health. Giving you something to focus on. Enjoy nurturing your tommies to grown. I look forward to my first taste xx
Thank you so much Marion. Hopefully I’ll have lots of tomato’s to share with you 😁😁 Yep, much better than chocolate! xx
I loved reading this blog I can relate to so many factors here,
I would have been lost during these lockdowns without our garden 🪴 for me it helped massively I as you know wasn’t allowed to venture outside for quite some time and our garden became my sanitary a place for me to go and regain some focus and get my mind back on track.
I found that it was so hard on my mental health I just couldn’t seem to pick myself up. And really did struggle for months in my own silent world 🌎 being my mind. So off I’d go out into the garden digging and weeding and generally like you say having a good old work out and yes it was great to see what I had achieved and I felt really pleased with my results ☺️
I too am growing some seeds and it’s so good to see the little green stems pocking up through the compost I always get that silly little grin on my face and say to myself wow look at your plant 🌱 growing.
This really does help relieve some of the mood swings and stress and generally the fed up feeling and not being able to think straight knowing that I kinda felt trapped not being able to go out
This is a great blog lisa and thank you for posting this I’m sure many others will and can’t relate to many of the things you’ve put
Be proud of yourself love ❤️ xxx
Thank you so much for you lovely comment Carol.
Lockdown has been super tough on you, not being able to go out. You understand why you have to be careful but it doesn’t make it any easier.
You have done such a wonderful job on your garden and it looks so beautiful. I’m so glad to hear that gardening has helped your mental health.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you grow in your garden this year xxx