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Ruud Kleinpaste: Mental health and gardening

Author
Ruud Kleinpaste,
Publish Date
Sat, 20 Nov 2021, 12:03PM
Hoya in the window. (Photo / Supplied)
Hoya in the window. (Photo / Supplied)

Ruud Kleinpaste: Mental health and gardening

Author
Ruud Kleinpaste,
Publish Date
Sat, 20 Nov 2021, 12:03PM

Mental health and Gardening exercise

I have often wondered what it is like to live on the 16th floor.

As a child, my parents always had a garden – that’s where I learned the “Manual of Outside Life”.

As students in the Netherlands we lived (with a baby!) in an old city house without a garden, literally in the centre of Wageningen. The remedy: a jungle of pot plants and vines (Hoya, Stephanotis, Monstera) climbing through all rooms.

Of course, my study topics and work were mostly outside in forests and parks, along river habitats and in national parks...and we had an allotment!

What are your options on the 16th floor?

Grow on balcony – many different ways to surround yourself with nature, flowers and even vegetables and fruit. Large container culture is becoming quite manageable.

Do we still have allotments?

Contact with the soil, plants, trees and shrubs has been shown to be great for mental and physical health. Listening to bird sounds and insect-buzzing adds to that and the smell of flowers and foliage nicely complements the whole experience.

Other Options?

Walk in local park – go to nearby forests such as the Waitakeres, Hunuas, town belt, dunes, beach.

For gardeners with a small piece to grow stuff, ask yourself what would work there - how do you find out?

The mere fact that you do research on that issue helps you to get outside too.

Visit your local garden centre to see what works well. Better still, your local botanic garden is likely to have some great displays of local horticultural opportunities.

Auckland botanic gardens have fabulous rows of hedges, endemic rarities, possible colour combinations that work in your area – it's all about INSPIRATION. There is Hagley Park, Wellington Botanic Gardens, Dunedin, Pukekura Park - there are so many great parks in Aotearoa cities and towns!

If you are interested in planting some native specimens that will work in your area, make a day trip to your regional or national park. The reason I live in Christchurch is not because of the concrete and glass city, but because within an hour you’re somewhere really interesting.

There’s a continuous park from Kahurangi to south Fiordland – just saying – with plenty of inspiration around what to plant and what comes feeding in your garden.

For beginning gardeners, who really want to start their own little paradise, this is the best advice I can give: Go for a walk around the block and see other people’s gardens. See what grows well, see what you like.

You might not know all the names of plants but here’s even a suggestion of how to find out - knock on the door or ring the bell and ask the owner.

More often than not you’ll strike a garden-proud owner who will tell you what it is and chances will be pretty good that you end up meeting new local gardeners and walking away with some cuttings…

You don’t have to be Dutch to appreciate that (but that helps too!). 

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