My vegetable garden: my ultimate wellness tool

My vegetable garden is my ultimate wellness tool.

Access to nutrient dense, chemical free food which can be consumed within minutes of harvest is not only incredibly beneficial to our health, but also nurtures our spirit and mental well being. We can spend a lifetime building financial security and making plans for the good life, but if we don’t enjoy good physical and mental health it is all for nothing.

Additionally, nothing can compare with the forgotten flavours and extended shelf life linked to the “champagne food” that we can produce in our very own backyards.

Honestly, one of the greatest joys I have in my life is working in my garden. I can leave the stress of the world on the other side of the fence while I work with the good earth.

Sorry if I sound like an evangelist, but I am a true believer in home food production for a number of reasons, and not just for the health benefits.

• Food security is very topical these days and a home garden, no matter what size, is one form of self reliance. Additionally, we have all experienced rising food prices recently, especially since the floods earlier this year, and the home vegetable plot is one way to combat the increasing pressures on the food budget.

• The family that gardens together grows together! Introduce your children to gardening and you will have gifted them a lifetime of pleasure and well being, not to mention a healthy lifestyle that includes good food, exercise and sunshine! Our own children have very fond memories of working in the garden with their grandparents and that is something precious that no one can ever take from them.

• Building the levels of organic material (humus!) in your own backyard can be an important personal contribution to combat global warming. A 1% increase represents 20 tonnes per hectare of carbon dioxide that is now stored in the soil, rather than in the atmosphere!

• Every 1% of organic matter we build in our soil equates to an increased water holding capacity of 17 litres per square metre. Better humus is the secret to drought proofing our gardens and reducing our water consumption. Now is the time to prepare for the next drought!