Gardening Sustains Humans - Body, Mind and Spirit: The Gifts of Gardening

Joni Ratliff writes a weekly column on Sustainable Practices in Earth Care. We are pleased to receive permission to reprint this reflection on the benefits of engaging in a relationship with the earth through the practice of gardening.

Photo courtesy of Joni Ratliff: "Is it either or both?"

Are the best gifts one gleans from the garden the fruits and vegetables it yields or the fragrant showy flowers? Or are the best gifts in the practice of gardening itself? 

Gardening is actually the epitome of the total health plan. It starts with the mental planning of the layout of the garden. It progresses to the physical acts of moving the soil, making the beds and sowing the seeds or digging the hole for the plant. Then there's the daily care from watering to weeding to pruning. Ultimately the outcome is food on the table or flowers in a vase. It begins with working the mind, moves to working the body, and ends up as nourishment for the body or for the soul. 

Movements for gardening are very similar to a strength training workout--lifting, squatting, carrying, not to mention digging. All to the aid of the cardiovascular system. These same movements enhance flexibility, balance and endurance. Using the garden tools increases grip strength. All roads lead to better daily functioning and reduction in injury risk. Then there is the effect of gardening on stress or anxiety. Combining physical movement with the sensory input from warm sunshine and fresh air leads to a calmer and more focused state of mind. 

Evidence also supports improved brain function in people who garden. One must decide what to plant, recall what did or didn't work last season, figure out a different approach, and remember the watering and fertilization schedule. All are problem solving and decision making skills. 

Photo courtesy of Joni Ratliff: Vegetables grown in straw bales

The final payoff is the higher value (reward) placed on a vegetable lovingly grown in your garden over the summer, or a fresh bouquet of flowers snipped from bushes and plants carefully tended by you. Keep them or share them--either way the circle is complete. Starting with mental planning and physical exercise, and culminating through seeing God's creation grown and developed to nourish you or your neighbor's body, or by providing beauty inside your home and outdoors to be shared by many.

What is your favorite gardening gift? 

"I alway plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow." Abraham Lincoln

"Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the spirit of God." Edwin Keith