Make your garden work harder and design it to improve your health and wellbeing.
We know gardening is therapeutic, but how do you harness this and make your space work harder? There are lots of clever design tips that enhance a garden without a complete redesign and without spending a fortune. And it works in a small garden or a corner of a larger garden, just pick and mix the best ideas to incorporate calm and atmosphere into a small space.
Here are five ways to garden for health and wellbeing.
Use soft and gentle planting
Choose a cool and calming colour palette such as green and white with tiny accents of yellow and purple. It exudes peace and tranquillity and calms the mind and spirit almost instantly.
Envelop the space
Design the garden so that visitors are surrounded by foliage with a protective feel. Choose trees with a low canopy and underplant with taller plants that enclose the space creating a feel of safety and inclusion.
Plant aromatic herbs into the borders
Choose ones that offer their healing properties as the sun releases their fragrance into the air. Medicinal herbs can support health and wellbeing, when used with the expert direction of a qualified medical herbalist. In a garden setting the uplifting aroma adds a further dimension to the design.
Use fragrant herbs beside and within paths
Plant fragrant herbs where they will be crushed in passing, so that they release their aromatic oils and calming fragrance into the air. Focal points and features like a chamomile seat exudes soft scent while seated and a path planted with fragrant thyme breathes calming volatile oils into the atmosphere as you walk through.
Add water to the design
The sound of running water has a calming effect, but even an open, reflective pool adds a sense of wellbeing to a garden design. Focusing on reflections and searching inner feelings can evoke a variety of emotions and help to add clarity and understanding to a situation. Couple this with a winding path and a large circular pond that offers a deep reflective area for contemplation.
This feature was inspired by a Lifestye Garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018 and highlights the ways you can garden for health and wellbeing.
The Health and Wellbeing Garden, designed by Alexandra Noble was awarded a Silver Medal, but for me it wins Gold with its simple ways to incorporate atmosphere and calm in a small space.
