Does growing your own improve your health?

[Noosner]

Giving and receiving fruit and veg when there are gluts means that everyone ends up eating veg they might not normally try, which is said to be good for one's health. I've given away kale, turnips, Jerusalem artichokes and sweetheart cabbages and received yellow courgettes, savoy cabbages, little gem lettuces and various interesting varieties of apple. I've lost count of the times people have said'ooh, I've never tried Jerusalem artichokes/turnips/etc,' so I usually give them a recipe too.

[Likac66]

I voted "other" for the following reasons: I think gardening is good for stress. I have a very busy and stressful job but when I'm out in the garden or on the plot I forget about other things and worries and I think it helps keep me sane. Secondly, I know I eat more vegetables when I've got my own harvest. These last few months we've eaten far less veg as a family so I'm really looking forward to growing more this year to have a winter harvest as well for next year.

[Hootie McBoob]

I voted other. I'm just starting out, but already it has helped my mental health enormously. I have Bipolar & it's certainly helped me to have a focus, it also keeps me calm & my moods level out while I am busy. The fresh air & exercise help this too.

[Snadger]

I think doctors should prescribe growing your own fruit and veg. There is so many benefits- fresh air, exercise and healthy food being the main ones. But also getting to know nature, making friends, getting outside, relaxing and overal wellbeing too. At our allotment Eva is living proof, 101 and still going strong and still has a full size plot, putting many youngsters to shame.

We have one doctor on site and one on the waiting list.......

[Snadger]

Another 'other' from I, but you'll have to wait for the book to be published...............

[Andromeda]

Yes it does. There's all the exercise involved, it's easier to sample a wider range of veg by growing 1 or 2 from free or cheep seeds and of course the veg is much fresher when it can from plot to pot (or plate) in a matter of minutes.

[veggiechicken]

I'm an Other!
Too many benefits to list - even when its raining or the slugs are rampaging, I still have the joy and inner peace of knowing that I have a plot of ground that is mine to grow whatever I enjoy. Mostly I grow Contentment

[Feral007]

We have one doctor on site and one on the waiting list.......

Well tell the one on the waiting list that he can have a lottie as soon as he prescribes 50 people with gardening prescriptions!

[alldigging]

Well tell the one on the waiting list that he can have a lottie as soon as he prescribes 50 people with gardening prescriptions!

He will need to prescribe the local authority to make more allotments.


How many health centres have growing spaces around them?

[SarzWix]

I'm an 'other' too. I couldn't say just one thing as gardening gives so many health benefits. My physical health isn't brilliant on the whole, but gardening helps in many ways, and if I'm not physically up to the heavy work on any given day, just pottering around and seeing what's grown and what I've achieved is fantastic for lifting any despondency

[marcofez]

I'm a "other" as well. To many benefits to list, just getting outside and pottering around is great!!

[out in the cold]

It has to be good for you.

You know exactly what went into it

[Storming Norman]

Well I voted 'not sure'.

I got my allotment just as I was made redundant. Good for my metal health? Most definitely gardening is a great distraction from the insanity of the world.

Physically I seem to have worn myself out rather though. I have had a foot reconstruction, and now a knee replacement [with another to come] since taking on the lottie. I'm puzzled if I'm just mad since I'm still at it - or was it the lottie that 'found me out'.

Mind you the results are a revelation and its certainly good rehabilitation........

[buzzingtalk]

I think its a combo between the exercise and the produce at the end of it. For me personally i wouldn't have done 4 hours of exercise today if I wasn't on the plot And i think when you grow your own food, there is a better connection to it, you are less likely to waste it as you know how much effort its taken, plus you will appreciate it more. And from my perspective, it will be 100% organic with no chemicals or horrible processes used to get it to my plate except for hard work

[KittyColdNose]

I'm an Other voter.

I do have my own personal demons to fight, so growing my own given me not only excercise I wouldn't get just walking the dogs, but it is a haven to escape to when I need to settle my mind.