PERIPHERALIA

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We have discussed in this column, under Garden Therapy, 
the use of Sensory Gardens in hospitals and retirement 
homes. Gardening as a prescription for individual everyday 
living also has both physical and mental benefits.  I have 
been reading about the benefits of gardening in the Sunday 
papers so if it is in the papers it must be true, right? Or at least 
fifty percent of it. Most of the news in the media of the 21st 
century brings us every disaster that they can gather from 
any part of the world and then repeats it all day in as many 
graphic ways as they can. So luckily today I found an article 
on the therapeutic effects of gardening.

One of the benefits of modern technology is that you can 
even garden in your bedroom in the old age home. Gardens 
can be horizontal or vertical or on the roof or on your small 
verandah. A small pot of herbs on the bookshelf, a bonsai 
there on the dresser and some hyacinths or orchids on the 
table in the corner of the room. Containers now come in all 
sorts of sizes. Put a few stones or hessian cloth in the bottom 
to give good drainage and then fill with the best quality 
potting soil. Do not use soil from the garden as it is too 
solid and dries out and does not contain enough nutrients. 
Mix the potting soil with some 2:3:2 fertiliser and, if you can 
find some, add some earthworm castings. As a final flourish 
mix in some vermiculite which helps retain water. If you are 
going to grow veggies in the container you can add some 
agricultural lime (dolomitic lime), which contains calcium 
and magnesium as most veggies like a higher level than is 
present in potting soil. This all sounds a bit like how the old 
pharmacists used to make up prescriptions for mixtures with 
their pestles and mortars.

The prescription for full-on gardening is to grab your 
gardening fork and stagger forth into the garden or 
allotment. Take your time and a stool or light chair (hide the 
old Brown Sherry under your arm until you are well out of 
sight of the house).

The therapeutic effects of gardening are often overlooked. 
It helps, for instance, with your balance. Bending, sitting, 
pruning and raking all help exercise the inner ear and 
cerebellum and can be done slowly by those with 
neurological and coordination disorders. The garden is a 
quiet place to do exercise in a place which is in good light 
and is safe. Apparently regular gardeners are thirty percent 
less likely to have falls than other adults.

Along with this goes an improvement in dexterity. Sowing 
seeds, pinching out buds, deadheading roses and general 
planting of seedlings all improve hand movements and 
motor skills. All these “fiddly” jobs help concentration and 
executive functions. One study found that, after gardening 

twice a week, women developed better dexterity than a 
comparison with a non-gardening group. 

There are also activities that are good for the soul and soil. If 
you are lucky enough to be in an area with a good rainfall and 
plenty of water in the dams, then watering the plants and 
shrubs with a hose is a transcendental Zen activity. You stand 
there and go into a fugue state and then move onwards 
humming a tune as you go.

Another activity that is not on the list for the next Olympic 
games is sweeping up leaves. The rhythm and flow of the 
brush on the pathways gives one a feeling of dissociation 
and tranquillity. There is enormous satisfaction in piling 
up the leaves and putting them in bags and seeing a clean 
pathway (this is as exciting as it gets in Pietermaritzburg). 
Unfortunately, in this tranquillity now comes the man with 
the petrol leaf blower. The loud noise of the engine and the 
toxic fumes that pollute the air are vexatious to the spirit.

Away from these vexatious noises and the traffic, I can also 
use the garden for “thinking time” and losing myself in 
daydreams on how I am going to spend my Lotto winnings. 
In this way gardening helps for depression, anxiety and 
stress-related disorders. A study at the University of Exeter 
has shown that people who live in neighbourhoods with 
more birds, shrubs and trees are less likely to suffer from 
these stress-related conditions. At a deeper psychological 
level, it is said that tending a plant and watching it grow 
keeps one in touch with the flow of life for patients suffering 
from chronic diseases. 

We are now destroying the global biosphere on multiple 
fronts. Industry and traffic are changing the composition 
of the soil, water and atmosphere with our waste and toxic 
fumes. Nobody knows how much more carbon dioxide 
we can continue to pump into the atmosphere before our 
grandchildren will start to get out of breath. So Plan A is 
for us to start growing the green stuff in our gardens which 
collectively are one of the largest biospheres on the planet. 

This is followed by Plan B (my grand plan) which is to take 
over the newspapers and the news services.  I will not be 
giving a daily summary of all the world’s disasters or political 
shenanigans.  There will be sections on what to do in the 
garden today, when to plant the petunias, what birds to look 
out for, how to make compost and perhaps a recipe or two 
for tonight’s supper.  This news will reduce the world’s intake 
of anxiolytics and antidepressants and help preserve the 
planet.

Chris Ellis is a family physician in Pietermaritzburg, 
KwaZulu-Natal

Email: cristobalellis@gmail.com

Gardening as a prescription