In a fast world, gardening is slow.

Everything in a garden takes it's own sweet time. You couldn't
hurry it up even if you wanted to. I believe it's better than medicine
when it comes to safeguarding your mental health. It teaches you patience -
a really lovely and important lesson for speedy people like me to learn.

That's the other interesting thing about gardening.

The learning. A garden is never just a garden - it's biology, history
botany, geography, food science, art. Though sometimes I despair about how
much there is to find out - it's always a huge challenge.

Philosophy is in there somewhere too. It's full of fundamentals like sex,
death and and the meaning of existence. Why do some crops
succeed when others fail? Why is the black fly population so high this year?

As an added bonus, gardening on an allotment site is like performing on a green stage.
Everyone has a delightfully different way of approaching it, and everyone has something to say
about everyone else. Some love their fine tilth and tidiness - you get the impression green leaves would only mess things up. Some plot-holders are junk-yard fanatics, some doom-and-gloom merchants and then there are the toddlers making mud pies.

We gardeners also have a huge and long-standing cultural and literary heritage to draw on.
Digging for victory. Fighting on the 'Kitchen' Front. We're ancient and modern at the
same time. Conservative and progressive. These days there's a direct link to changing society and helping to create a low carbon economy too. We're right on trend and at the
forefront of a progressive movement.

Yes, gardening is also an industry but if it's done with the best of (organic) expertise, it can provide truly 'sustainable' jobs and contribute towards solving food shortage issues. That's why people and local governments up and down the country have started digging up the flower beds in parks and planting vegetables instead.

Then there's the smell, the sight, the sound and the taste of it. The way that
heavy weight of 'should' drops off my shoulders when I walk up the path. All the rewards
of the hard work I put in. Old-fashioned, beautifully scented
sweet peas. Daffodils for my daughter.

Fresh broad beans are worlds apart from frozen.
Eat them crushed with home grown garlic, olive oil and warm, crusty bread. New potatoes
and butter with a roast. The juiciest of raspberries. Devour them straight away as the original fast food - or bake them with meringue and gobble them up with cream and sugar whilst
listening to the colors and the bird song of creation.

If you want to be happy for a lifetime, become a gardener. I can see dozens of meanings in that expression. Gardening keeps you fit, it keeps you fed (and interesting) - it keeps you sane.

I would never want to be without the good sense and the beauty of it in my life.

Learn more about this author, Frances Laing.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

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