WE’VE just had two weekends of what I call ‘gardening weather.’
It’s been cool enough to do some strenuous digging on our allotment but sufficiently sunny and wind-free to make it a pleasure rather than an insurmountable, bitter struggle against mud, stubborn weeds and couch grass.
I spent last Sunday preparing three trenches for potatoes while the Man thinned out the strawberry patch. His ‘bad back’ prevents him from strenuous trenching – although it doesn’t stop him playing squash and racquetball, I’ve noticed – but this arrangement suits us both as I find half an hour of frantic digging is a good stress buster and he’s got more patience with the soft fruit.
It’s a bit like our division of labour when it comes to decorating. He’s the gloss paint person while I prefer the more instant effect of slapping on the vinyl emulsion or wallpaper.
When we’d finished, and stood back in the sunshine to admire our efforts, I had one of those rare moments of contentment. “Allotmenting is good for the soul,” I said, in an equally rare moment of poetic and philosophical contemplation.
Of course, we all know that gardening is beneficial in so many ways. Various studies and medical bodies recommend getting out into the garden as a way to keep fit, ease stress, beat depression and prevent the onset of degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis and high blood pressure.
Then there’s the reward of being able to pluck tubers from the earth and eat them for dinner the very same day. There are also financial arguments in favour of growing your own.
But, what is less well known is that actual physical contact with the soil; that rich mix of minerals, rotting vegetation, bugs and microbes, is in itself a health-giving force. Simply getting your hands mucky and inhaling the dirt stimulates the immune system in a most astonishing way.
Researchers at Bristol University have found that certain strains of soil-borne mycobacteria trigger a complex cascade of reactions within the body, some of which stimulate immune cells while others interact with the nervous system to increase production of serotonin, a substance known as the feelgood ‘hormone’ (although it’s not actually a hormone).
If science was not your strong point at school, all you need to know is that soil could be better than Prozac and anti-inflammatories.
Which may be why I left the house on Sunday morning feeling grumpy and a little unwell, and returned home after 90 minutes of gardening with a spring in my step. Incidentally, I slept better on Sunday than any other night of the week.
I’ve long been an advocate of gardening therapy. I think growing our own food is such a basic skill – rooted, if you’ll pardon the expression, in our social and cultural evolution – that all of us need to do it. Even if it’s just tending a window box of herbs or growing mustard and cress.
Modern life, with its whizzy digital appliances, sanitised homes and artificial lighting is simply not good for us.
Our bodies, little changed for thousands and thousands of years, are designed to deal with dirt, fresh air, hard physical toil and food straight from the ground.
We are growing fat and lazy because we no longer have to struggle for survival and while we live in times of relative affluence and plenty, increasing numbers of people are on anti-depressants.
Instead of going to the gym and trawling the aisles of the supermarkets we should be growing more of our own food and teaching children to understand where their daily bread comes from.
Gardeners connect with the seasons and appreciate the simple pleasures of watching their courgettes grow and flowers blossom. They don’t despair quite as much when it rains because they know it will be good for their thirsty runner beans. And they don’t mind getting their hands dirty.
The possibility that bacteria could help to boost mood has added further fuel to the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ that says lack of exposure to dirt-borne pathogens in early life might explain the sharp rise in chronic inflammatory, allergic and immune disorders such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease.
Allowing your toddler to play with a stick and a muddy puddle may, on balance, be much better for him or her than an hour spent in a plastic playgym or a morning in front of the DVD player.
In fact, get them to help in the garden and give them a healthy interest for life. Who knows, growing some vegetables might even encourage them to eat their greens.
