Getting a gardener’s workout on the set of Love Your Garden
You don’t need an expensive gym membership to get fit – just your garden. It’s perfect if you want to lose weight and build up your stamina. Make a commitment to get outside for a couple of hours a week for the gardener’s workout.
Gardening is a great way of keeping fit and active, both physically and mentally. It’s great to know such a popular hobby is also fantastic for your health and wellbeing.
Mowing and digging
According to nutritionists at Loughborough University, mowing, digging and planting for two to three hours can help burn off up to one pound a week.
And 10 to 20 minutes a day in the garden will help top up vitamin D levels in your system and improve your mood by lowering stress levels. Among other things, vitamin D can help reduce cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease and type 2 diabetes.
The study also found that in general, gardening improves mood and cuts anxiety and depression. Being outside, doing something emotionally satisfying and physically tiring helps produce feel-good endorphins and reduce stress.
Body benefits
Gardening gives all major muscle groups a good workout, including your legs, arms, buttocks, stomach, neck and back. Some experts believe gardening can burn up to 300 calories an hour.
Another study in the American Journal of Public Health looked at 200 active gardeners comparing them to non-gardening folk. Female gardeners were 46% less likely to be overweight than non-gardeners. The percentage was even higher for men – 62% per cent less likely to be overweight than non-gardening men. Male gardeners weighed 16lb less and women 11lb less than their non- gardening counterparts.
Healthy eating
And none of this takes account of the added benefits of growing and eating your own fruit and veg!
Carrots, strawberries and tomatoes are all high in beta-carotene – a natural chemical in their red-orange pigments that converts to vitamin A in the body.
They are known by nutritionists as happy fruit because they boost your immune system and are easy to grow.
Getting started
Remember to pay attention to your body and exertion levels. The gardener’s workout is like any exercise. Have a stretch before you get started and try not to do too much at once.
Make sure you drink plenty of water, especially if it’s a hot day, and take regular breaks. Mind your back too – lift using your knees rather than bending your spine.
If you’re like me, the excitement of gardening itself gives you a lovely feeling, and you won’t notice you’re exercising!
Just don’t overdo it. Losing weight should combine a calorie-controlled diet with physical activity. But it’s so much nicer when it includes creating a beautiful outdoor space.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Wildlife gardens are increasingly popular, and you don’t need acres of land to encourage birds to feed and nest in your garden – simply plant varieties they love!
Many bird species are declining in Britain because they are losing their natural habitat, but you can help. There are 15 million gardens in the UK, covering 270,000 acres – that’s more than all the country’s nature reserves put together!
Choose plants that flower and seed at different times, so birds can eat natural foods all year round. Climbing plants also provide good cover for birds to roost. My top 10 plants are:
In autumn this plant will offer birds masses of fruit. Big fans include thrushes, finches and blackbirds, as well as more exotic birds like waxwing.
Corylus Contorta
The catkins and early growth of twisted hazel are ideal for chiffchaff and spring migrants.
Honeysuckle
It’s a great climber for birds, offering berries and cover for them to roost. Thrushes, warblers and bullfinches love it.
Malus Golden Hornet
Fruit from this plant will decay if you leave it untouched, exposing tasty seeds for great tits and greenfinches.
Pyracantha Orange Glow
This plant provides winter berries for thrushes and blackberries.
Rowan
Big rowan tree and ripe berries at golden sunset light
This is a great, compact plant for small to medium gardens. Different species will give berries from July to November, providing a feast for blackbirds and starlings. The white berries however are not as popular!
Festuca Gauteri
Goldfinch and Linnet love this plant’s seed heads.
Ivy
Its flowers attract insects, which birds love to eat, and its winter black berries are a firm favourite of thrushes, waxwings, starlings, jays and blackbirds.
Bidens Solar Garden
Its yellow flowers attract insects that are ideal food for tits, robins and warblers.
Other ways to help
Don’t be too keen to tidy your garden – those leaves, stems, twigs and debris make great nest material for birds!
You can install nest boxes for almost every garden bird you can think of, including owls, robins, sparrows and house martins. Site them away from feeding grounds, as the activity can disrupt mating pairs, and be patient – it can take a couple of years for birds to fill your box!
Finally, place a bird bath in your garden and keep it topped up with fresh water. Birds will flock to it for drinking and bathing. Put it somewhere you can see it from your window, so you can watch the birds without disturbing them.
We’ve been looking at using F Words as a guide to easy garden design and renovation. We’ve already looked at getting great flooring and fencing, so now let’s see what we can do with garden features.
F is for Features
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Concrete blocks make eyecatching features in the Help for Heroes Chelsea garden
Garden features are larger, eye-catching items in the garden. Basically anything that’s not a floor, fence or plant! Some features are actually fixtures that you may want to disguise, while others add interest and focal points.
Plus there are often fixtures and big items in your garden that become ‘features’ for the wrong reasons! I split them into three categories:
Stuck with!
This could be a garage, ugly views, a coal bunker, neighbours overlooking the garden. Anything you can’t change.
Shift it!
Kids’ swings and slide, the garden shed, washing line, last year’s old barbeque. Stuff you need to keep, but which doesn’t need to be in the centre of your lawn.
Skip it!
Scruffy bird table, rotting old bench, shrubs way past their best, old pots and containers with dead summer plants in, natty dog chews on the lawn. Removable stuff you don’t need.
What to do now
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Grow clematis through trellis
Simple – if you’re stuck with it, hide it! Rapid-growing climbers will do the job. Try Clematis montana or Hedera canariensis ivy. Fallopia baldschuanica, or Russian vine, grows incredibly quickly, so you will need to keep an eye on it!
To hide ugly views or nosey neighbours, try the three Ts – trees, trellis, trailing plants. Use canopy trees which offer a lot of greenery high up but don’t take up too much ground space.
For objects in the ‘shift it’ category, just move them out of sight, or at least out of the main view into your garden. Cover sheds with plants, climbers and a green roof. Put away any toys and the barbeque when you’re not using them.
Anything else needs to go in the skip. Remove all feelings of attachment or any other history connected with these items – just throw them away!
Remove the ugly areas and you’ve made a big start to having a better-looking garden.
Create new features
After you have solved the unsightly problems, add in some new features. Something that makes you want to go out and see it whenever you look out of the kitchen window. It does not need to be palatial or spectacular, but something personal that draws you outside and brings the garden to life.
Everyone’s tastes are different. I have a koi pond. It’s a raised pond where I sit and feed the fish while enjoying a beer at the end of the day.
Gazebo
Gazebos are both practical and ornamental. They feel decadent, and you can find spectacular designs to embellish your garden. They provide shade and shelter for you to host a garden soiree or just sit and enjoy your favourite book.
Stone
Stone features instantly bring a classical feel to any garden. Anything from a rockery to a bird bath makes a great garden feature. For more of a statement, try busts and statues.
Water
There’s nothing like the sound of trickling water to soothe your mind after a stressful day. For many gardeners, the water feature is their favourite spot. You can try anything from a rain chain to a full-sized fountain!
Stainless steel
This is a great rust-proof metal that is used in imaginative ways to bring a contemporary touch. Steel sculptures are a modern twist on the obelisk, and their reflective surface makes your garden look bigger!
Plant foliage
And why not try foliage in addition to flowers? Try using the intricate colours and patterns of leaves to complement your feature. My favourites are the marbling effect of Heucheras, the striping effect on Carex and the silver vein patterns in outdoor cyclamens.
So there you have it – use the F Words guide to break your garden into three parts for easy renovation and design!
