Gardening is associated with many health benefits including improved physical, mental and social wellbeing. Mowing the lawn, digging, weeding and other gardening tasks can help us stay active and hit our weekly exercise goal and simply spending more time outdoors has been shown to improve sleep. If you don’t have a garden, or outdoor space, you can still reap many of the benefits by planting in pots on windowsills or joining a local gardening group near you. Read on for our top tips to get started and ideas of what to grow.
Whether you are growing indoors or outdoors, a thriving plant starts with good soil. The surest way to make sure your plants get off to a good start is to buy a bag of compost and use this to start your seedlings; once they are well-established you can re-plant them into regular soil in your garden. To save money on buying little pots, you can start your seedlings in clean yoghurt pots or any other containers you can save from your kitchen, just poke something sharp through the bottom to allow for some drainage.
Eating too much salt can contribute to increased blood pressure, using herbs in cooking is a great way to add flavour without adding salt. Herbs are one of the easiest things to grow and great for beginners to try. They are a great choice for indoor growing as they do well in pots on a sunny windowsill. If you’re planting them outdoors, choose the sunniest spot you can find. Chives, mint, basil, parsley, and thyme are just a few that are easy to care for. You can either grow from seeds or buy the little plants from the supermarket and re-pot them.
Gardening is a hobby for all ages, and it’s a nice activity to do with children. Children love to see flowers grow and growing vegetables together can be a great way to encourage them to try them, which is especially helpful if you have a picky eater. It is also a great way to introduce a little responsibility in the form of caring for something else, let children choose what flowers and vegetables they want to grow and watch the sense of joy they get from seeing the fruits of their labour.
Sign up to receive our monthly Healthy Tip emails directly to your inbox
Discover ways to look after you heart
In this month’s Healthy Tip, Luca, Registered Associate Nutritionist at Heart Research UK, explains why strengthening your glutes is about much more than aesthetics, and how it can help protect your heart.
In this month’s Healthy Tip, Amie Leckie, Registered Nutritional Therapist and Health & Wellbeing Specialist at Heart Research UK, explores the world of supplements -highlighting which ones may be worth considering and which may simply lead to… an expensive wee!Â
Our 5 healthy eating tips are simple, back-to-basics stuff that doesn’t require any special supplements or equipment.
Did you know that heart attack rates increase during the festive period? Join us as we delve into some of the benefits of exercise for heart health, offer some ideas to help you build sustainable movement routines and serve up a festive exercise challenge.
Explore our collection of heart healthy recipes
A comforting and light filo pastry chicken and mushroom pie.
A light, Japanese-style broth with noodles.
Warming one-pot sweet potato curry with hearty spices.
A one-pot wonder for a cold day.