Summer EngAGE

Home & Care
Make your garden
work for you
© Pefkos / shutterstock
Looking out over a beautiful garden is a joyful
experience. Seeing your hard work in all its glory
brings a sense of pride and happiness and gives
you a garden in which to retreat as a sanctuary
from the stresses of life.
There are widely
recognised health
benefits to gardening
such as improving
or maintaining your physical
fitness, mobility and flexibility.
A study by Kansas University
shows that regular, energetic
gardening provides the same
health benefits as jogging or
swimming and reduces the
risk of high blood pressure,
heart disease and obesity.
An hour of lawn mowing or
weeding can burn over 300
calories, help to strengthen
your core, build back, leg and
arm muscles and improve
flexibility – as well as helping
you to sleep better, and don’t
forget that exercise releases
endorphins, the hormone
that makes us feel good.
Horticultural therapy has
become a recognised
treatment for stress and
depression as it can improve
mental wellbeing and quality
of life. For many the peace,
tranquillity and rhythmic
nature of gardening can help
clear the mind whilst for
others it’s the chance to vent
the frustrations of the day.
However, as we grow older
it can become increasingly
difficult to keep on top of the
garden, but that doesn’t mean
you have to stop enjoying it.
There are ways of adapting
your garden that can make
it easier for you to manage
and our Home Help service
can put together a gardening
package to suit your needs.
There are plenty of tips and
tricks for creating a low
maintenance garden which is
easier to care for and allows
you to enjoy your hobby for
longer. For example, there are
many lightweight or adapted
tools that help make the task
easier such as long handled
tools to eliminate bending and
kneeling, lightweight spades
with a T-handle to make digging
soil easier and you can also buy
kneelers or stools on wheels
to help prevent back strain.
Raised beds made out of
wooden sleepers, bricks or
even old tyres will stop you
needing to bend too far down
and give you a place to sit
and rest during planting or
weeding. To eliminate bending
completely you can even create
vertical planters on a wall.
Creating meadows or planting
low maintenance perennials
can create beautiful flower
beds without the hassle of
pruning and replanting. Using
mulches or membranes in
your beds will stop unwanted
weeds from growing and will
cut down on your workload.
Gardening can be hard
work, so always be honest
with yourself and know your
limitations. If there are parts
of your garden that you are
struggling to manage then
ask for help from a family
member or a gardening
service such as Age UK’s.
Our gardening service can
do as much or as little as you
need; we can help with the
more physical tasks such
as weeding, lawn mowing
and hedge trimming or the
smaller jobs such as pruning.
Our experienced gardeners
can give advice on the
plants best suited to your
garden or even help you start
a manageable vegetable
patch. No job is too small
or garden too large and our
professional and friendly
service is very competitive.
Please give us a call on
0116 299 2266 to find out
how we can help you
to continue enjoying
your garden.
©belushi's / shutterstock
6 | sUMMER 2017 www.ageukleics.org.uk