We are so excited to get started with our new blog series on gardening. Throughout this series we will be discussing why gardening is such a great hobby for you at any age in life, tips for seniors with different physical capabilities, as well as sharing tips and tricks about gardening straight from the experts themselves. For most people, seeing or smelling flowers makes them happy. It is actually scientifically proven that engaging with plants inside or outside can improve your health mentally and physically. Today to kick off our gardening series we thought it would be fun to go through all the different benefits that people can glean by starting to work on their green thumb.

1. Gardening makes you feel good.

There is a lot of scientific evidence that simply being outside and soaking up Vitamin-D can greatly improve a person’s mental and physical health. But there are also studies that have shown that the actual act of gardening can have such a positive impact on your mental health. When you get dirt on your hands you breathe in a certain bacteria that grow in soil called Mycobacterium vaccae that can alleviate symptoms of depression by boosting the production of serotonin(this is known as the happy chemical) in your brain.

2. Indoor gardening helps clean the air.

We all know that plants can brighten up any room with lively splashes of colors that bring us joy. They may be a great addition to cozy up your home but they can do so much more than that! A Nasa study showed that plants help remove toxins from the air in your home such as trichloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde, making the air fresher and healthier for you to breathe. So treat yourself and go grab yourself a few house plants to brighten up your home!

3. Gardening gets you moving.

We talk all the time on our blogs about how staying active as a senior is so important. From helping boost your mood and energy, control weight gain, keeping a healthy heart, preventing diseases, and much more. One of the best parts about gardening for seniors is it gets them up and active. Seniors may not realize even if they are disabled they have many options for creating a garden that gives them the capability to tend to it. Keep an eye out for a blog we will be including in this series that will discuss this topic in detail. 

4. Gardening allows seniors to have something to nurture.

When a senior seeds or re-pots a plant, they get a feeling of being needed. If they fail to water and care for their plants, they will die. Nurturing a plant brings a new purpose to their daily life. Some seniors have enjoyed caring for their children, spouse, or pets more than others because they are born nurturers, and feel like that part of their life is missing as they get older. Many times plants can fill that void and bring happiness to them. 

We are so excited to go through this series on gardening with our Dwell at Home family. We hope you follow along and find it packed full of helpful information to help you start out on your gardening journey, no matter your health or housing circumstances. We will be hearing from a professional plant blogger, a disabled senior who has not let his disability get in his way of doing what he loves, and the owners of Dwell at Home themselves Mike Clark and Rod Palmer. In their previous career, Mike and Rod owned and ran Owls Hollow Farm, a very successful farm that sold to stores and restaurants across all of Birmingham, AL. So let us help you turn that thumb green, lookout for the next blog on April 1st.