Gardening for life

I have a brown thumb! Growing up, I spent tons of money on indoor plants but never had much success keeping them alive. My husband, who has an unassuming green thumb, brought some gorgeous house plants to the marriage and demonstrated how to keep them alive. He positioned them to get the best sunlight. He also watered them when they were dry by feeling the soil and weight of the plant. And, he fed them, knowing that plants deplete the soil of vitamins. With his lead and help, I have found my passion outside with ornamental gardening . Also, using what I learned from landscape planners, I have created some wonderful living spaces in our yard. I have moved tons of rocks, gravel, soil, compost, mulch and transplants. I've created paths, benches, decorations and groupings. In the spring, when the snow has mostly melted, there's a fleeting "butter season" to dig new grass outlines (each year we decrease the amount we have), holes, and make hard changes in the designs. Spring is always fun, especially watching the growing plants that I put in the ground the previous fall and new life coming out of the ground. My goal is to not have any empty spaces, so pulling the weeds and replacing them with plants is a never-ending project but creates instant gratification. Summer, we enjoy and see which plants are most drought tolerant and what needs to be moved or cut. And, here we are getting close to fall when I prune everything, clean up, spread compost and get the yard ready for the snow.

Now we have research that shows a home-based mentored vegetable garden helps breast cancer survivors improve their quality of life with a host of other benefits that include improved physical activity, performance, anthropometrics (body measurements), biomarkers and vegetable consumption! Such a wonderful new activity to add to your life. And, it makes sense that getting your hands into the soil, being in the sun, creating and growing vegetables can only help improve ones quality of life.

Are you a Master Gardener, or do you know a Master Gardener who wants to start a Harvest for Health type program in your community? How can I help?

"A home‐based mentored vegetable gardening intervention demonstrates feasibility and improvements in physical activity and performance among breast cancer survivors"

Jennifer R. Bail PhD, RN Andrew D. Frugé PhD, RD Mallory G. Cases PhD Jennifer F. De Los Santos MD Julie L. Locher PhD Kerry P. Smith MS Alan B. Cantor PhD …22 June 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.31559