Gardening with Family – Therapeutic and Family Bonding

Gardening with family is fun for me as well it is a stress reliever for me this summer! Let me tell you a little story: I was born in a farming village in Dominica, West Indies. I come form a long line of farmers: my great grand dad, my aunts, my uncles, my cousin, my granddad are farmers. They have farmed crops for personal, national, and international export. And for the last 20 years, my mum has kept a garden at her home in New York. She plants tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, water crest etc. So this year when Ade and I decided to start a garden, I knew I had big shoes to fill. Since COVID19 stay at home orders were put in place and being post-partum we have been engaging in a range of new activities. Gardening for me and taking care of house plants has become therapeutic. With all the chaos happening in the world, gardening provides a space for me to escape and relax.

We started gardening  just after I gave birth, so Ade & Asha started by clearing and tilling the land  and later the entire family joined in. I want to make it a summer tradition like my mother has done.

Gardening with Family, A Stress Reliever

Planting has several benefits for your well being 

Planting and gardening has several benefits for your well being. Whether you choose to grow vegetables or flowers, there a lots of benefits including:

  • Builds self esteem
  • Burning calories while digging, planting and weeding burns calories and strengthens your heart
  • Helps reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety
  • Boosts your mood
  • Relieves stress
  • Growing your own food, free of pesticides, is healthy.

I believe like any activity done together, planting and gardening with my family will strengthen our bonding, which I love. Here’s a clip of us gardening.  While I didn’t grow up planting with my family, I did watch my mum plant in her backyard. Similarly, Asha is watching us plant  and we are making an effort to incorporate her. It also helps that Ade has become a serious green thumb. 

I’m curious, have you planted this season?  If so, what did you plant?

Let me know in the comments.

Xoxo,

Dr. G