Rediscover nature through backyard gardening

One way to re-establish contact with nature while continuing to live in urban areas is to start gardening. Gardening is perhaps the easiest and the most convenient way to rediscover your connection with nature. You can plant a whole garden in your backyard or, if space is a constraint, you can start with your small balcony.

Although home gardening makes your house look beautiful and adds a different kind of charm to it, the benefits of gardening extend to your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Let’s find out how gardening can nourish your body and soul.

The health benefits of backyard gardening

1. Gardening is an excellent workout

Movement of the body is vital for good health and protects us from many diseases. Doctors and health experts recommend that for optimum health and fitness, one should exercise daily. However, running/walking outdoors or on a treadmill becomes monotonous and boring. Gyms too lose their attraction after a few days or weeks unless you are a fitness enthusiast.

The best thing about backyard gardening is that it doesn’t feel like a workout. It is an engaging activity that involves your body and mind. Plus, it not monotonous at all. Because it is done outdoors, you are inhaling fresher air. Almost your entire body gets a workout in the different aspects of gardening: tilling the soil, removing weeds, planting new seeds, watering the plants, plucking fruits, adding fertilisers, and so much more. Backyard gardening is a fun way to make your kids exercise as they don’t even realise that they are working out.

2. It encourages healthy eating

Backyard gardening offers you the opportunity to grow your own food. When you start eating food produced in your own little home garden, you will feel a different kind of satisfaction. Plus, Unlike commercially grown fruits and veggies, the food you grow in your backyard garden is free of harmful chemicals and pesticides. The effort you put into growing your own food will help you appreciate the value of nourishment which packaged foods are devoid of.

3. Your home garden is a source of fresh air

Plants and trees inhale carbon monoxide and exhale oxygen and are nature’s very own air purifiers. Fresh, clean air is becoming a rarity in urban areas, with pollution levels threatening to cause widespread disease. Along with plants that give fruits and vegetables, you can choose a few that are known for their air-purifying properties. Tulsi (basil) and snake plant are two popular options.

4. Gardening boosts your immunity

Studies have established that exposure to microbes present in soil boosts the immune system. The presence of certain organisms and environmental factors provides the immune system with information it needs to function. The exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin-D, which too helps in improving your immune system besides a host of other benefits.

The benefits of backyard gardening on mental health

The benefits of home gardening extend beyond physical health; gardening is known to be great for your psychological health too. Here are a few ways in which backyard gardening can help boost your mental and emotional wellbeing.

1. Backyard gardening can help you combat everyday stress

We are facing a stress epidemic in the world today and gardening helps us combat this menace. A study conducted in The Netherlands established that gardening led to significant decrease in the stress hormone cortisol as compared to other leisure activities such as reading.

An hour tending to your garden is much better than watching a movie or taking a walk. Since gardening activities are mostly carried out outdoors during the day, you get exposure to sunlight, which helps ease Seasonal Affective Disorder [SAD], a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons. There is also evidence that soil contains a microbiome that works as an antidepressant.

2. Gardening cultivates a sense of responsibility and patience

We live in a fast-paced world with all the conveniences delivered right at our doorstep 24/7, 365 days a year. In an era of instant messengers and food delivery apps, we have forgotten that patience is a virtue. Gardening helps us rediscover the beauty of slow and steady. Because nurturing plants requires us to give all our attention—right from the moment we sow the seed—gardening cultivates in us a sense of responsibility and patience. These, in turn, help us cope with life’s challenges better.

3. It helps manage anger and lessens agitation

Gardening can help calm your nerves and release your anger or agitation. Physical activities such as digging, ploughing and de-weeding help discharge any negative emotional charge you might carry back from work or face at home due to any number of reasons. Bring out your shovel and get to work; cut a few buds or trim the grass. Attend to the needs of your garden and soon you will regain your composure which, in turn, will help you see your situation in a better light.

4. Gardening connects us to nature

Modern technologies have its advantages but one of its more serious drawbacks is that we have lost our connection to nature and that has had a detrimental effect on the human psyche. The life force that powers us is the same life force that flows through all of Nature. Backyard gardening can help reconnect us with Nature and recognise how intrinsically we are connected. When we start gardening, we feel a sense of oneness with the whole of existence, and that helps expand our perspectives of living and relating with everyone and everything.

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To help you create a flourishing urban garden, I have put together a list of common gardening mistakes that many newbies make.

10 common gardening mistakes

1. Watering the plants too much or too little

This is one of commonest gardening mistakes urban gardeners make — they simply don’t know how much to water their plants. For plants that are set in the ground, water them well so that the soil is completely wet. For container grown plants, water them till you see some water draining from the drainage holes provided in the container. The containers must have a drainage hole in order to ensure proper drainage. Water should not stagnate near the roots as that can deprive the roots of oxygen and cause them to rot.

Another common gardening mistake beginners make is not ensuring that the plants will be watered when you are away for many days. During your absence, plants can be watered using automated drip irrigation systems. One can even improvise a slow drip system out of a pet bottle with a hole made in the bottom.

2. Over crowding the plants

Overcrowding usually happens when budding gardeners start growing plants from seeds. When sowing seeds, one should consider the space that a plant will need when it is fully grown. If too many seeds are sown in a container, they should be reduced to just one or two depending on the size of the container. This process of removing excess seeds is called “thinning”. Allowing all the plants to grow in a cramped pot will cause deficiencies in the plants and none of them will grow to their fullest potential.

3. Too much or too little light

For those living in cities, finding a place to have a garden can be quite a challenge. We often end up buying plants that look beautiful in the nursery, but they start fading and eventually die out. This could be due to faulty sunlight exposure.

While different plants have different light requirements, one can easily choose the location for planting if we remember few basic rules.

Most of the flowering annual plants need full sun or at least 4 – 6 hours of direct light. Observe the plants when you buy them in the nursery as to where they have been kept. If they were in a sunny spot, place them in a sunny spot. If you found those plants in a shaded area, place them in a shaded area in your garden.

South facing balconies receive the maximum light in terms of length and intensity. Next come east and west facing balconies. North facing balconies receive the least light for most part of the year. If you are growing vegetables, the best option is to grow them in south, east or west facing balconies.

4. Letting weeds take over

Sometimes we get uninvited guests in our garden in the form of weeds. It is important to know which one is the plant from the seed you have sown and which one is a weed. Before sowing the seed, it is good to read about it a little bit to know about the plant and how the seedling will look like.

Removing of the weeds has to be done as early as possible. Leaving the weed to grow in the container will result in the nutrients being eaten away by them, and your plant to suffer.

5. Not protecting from pests

We love healthy plants but so do pests. Pests are every gardener’s nightmare. By carefully inspecting the plants every morning, we can detect the pests early enough and get rid of them. Bugs, insects and caterpillars can be easily controlled when they are identified during their early stages.

Spraying the plants with organic pesticides such as neem oil will ensure that pests don’t attack the plants in future.

6. Planting out-of-season plants

This belong to the top of the list of common gardening mistakes newbies make. If you will pot plants that are out of season and then expect flowers or fruits, you are bound to be disappointed. This applies to plants that are non-native as well. All of us get excited when we see exotic vegetables and we immediately want to try growing them. Reading about the plant before planting will help set our expectations right.

7. Not feeding the plants

Most of us have the notion that, to grow and bloom, plants need only water and nothing else. Plants do need water but they also need about 16 different nutrients from the soil. Plants absorb nutrients that are dissolved in water. So what should you feed your plants and how often?

There are different types of plant fertilizers available. The easiest to find is compost. Compost is decomposed cow manure; it is organic and safe to the environment. Adding a handful of compost to every pot once every 15 days will ensure that your plant stays healthy and adds value to your garden.

There are water soluble synthetic fertilizers available as well. They result in faster growth. A popular choice is NPK 19-19-19 in water soluble form. A teaspoon of this dissolved in a litre of water can be applied to the plant roots once every 15 days. The results can be seen in less than a week’s time.

Remember, moderation is the key when it comes to fertilizer. Applying more will not result in a better plant. Indeed, many plants die due to the usage of excessive fertilizer.

8. Not choosing the right container size

Often new gardeners pot a big plant in a small container that is quickly outgrown. This is where regular repotting comes into the picture. Inspect the pot every month or so, to see if there are roots showing up on the soil surface or via the drainage holes in the bottom. If you see roots peeping, then it is time to move the plant to a bigger pot. If not done on time, your plant will outgrow the pot breaking it or it won’t grow well. Ask for the right size of the container in the nursery from where you buy the plant.

9. Sowing seeds too deep or too shallow

Sowing of seeds can make many new gardeners nervous. They worry about how deep or far apart the seeds have to be sown. The thumb rule is that the seeds should be sown twice as deep as they are thick. So, if the seeds are 5mm thick, sow them 10mm deep. If the seeds are too tiny, simply sprinkle them on the top.

10. Emotional meltdowns when our plants suffer

Last but not the least, sometimes, we get too attached to our plants and if they suffer we tend to take it too seriously. We may whistle in delight when our zinnia flowers and then be in tears when the orchid plant doesn’t flower for ages. No matter what, your garden will keep changing and you need not get too emotional about every pest attack or failed flowering.

Observe the above points, avoid making these common gardening mistakes that most budding gardeners make and soon you will be on your way to becoming a pro.

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My moment of revelation

Innovation is the driving force of nature and, as immortalised in Jurassic Park, ‘life will find a way’. Plants in the wild don’t grow in a particular place. They just grow haphazardly in every nook and cranny. While on a trek up north, I was walking through some dense forests when I happened to have a sort of ‘eureka’ moment… plants in jungles adapted to their environment, thriving in the limited space they could find that hadn’t already been claimed by some other form of vegetation.

When I got back to work, I found myself with a client whose penchant for cleanliness appeared to be at odds with her desire for indoor gardening! Her stipulation that there should be no pots on her floor or mud in her house might seem obsessive, but was justifiably so, as her daughter was allergic to dust. This posed quite a challenge, but we found a solution—inverted gardening!

Upside-down gardening

Inverted gardening is the art of growing plants upside down, with the roots to the sky and shoots to the ground. Using the Japanese art form called Kokedama [gardening without using a pot] we made these beautiful upside down planters using peat moss, perlite, laterite and coco peat. What we discovered during the process blew our minds!

The perks of inverted gardening

If pests and blight are wrecking your plants, it might be time to turn your garden on its head. When dealing with overhead plantations there is a reduced risk of rotting or attacks from pests. No longer will you have to cage, stake or weed your plants or battle cutworms and other ruinous critters to put fresh tomatoes on the table. And, there are other advantages to growing plants upside down:

1. You don’t have to till the soil
2. There is no need to support or to stake plants
3. You can grow a wide variety of vegetables
4. Watering is much easier, and the plants are more vigorous
5. What’s most enticing is that there’s no weeding at all!

What you need to do to get started

You can buy pricey containers that are meant specifically for the inverted growing technique, but if you don’t want to dig too deep into your pocket, you can use a simple method we figured out at the nursery—the trick is to get the rootball right. Make a cricket ball-sized rootball with perlite and coco peat; tie a string tightly around the root and then use a moss sheet to encase the rootball of your plant. Tie it together and place the rootball very carefully in a pot. Pull the string through the base of the pot and you can now suspend it in a nice sunny spot in your balcony. Over the years, I worked with several plants and I found that some plants adapted better than others. Here is what I learned:

Plants best suited to inverted gardening

Tomato

Heirloom, Beefsteak or Cherry, the tomato is a popular plant because it is easy to grow. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice and flourish in this type of container because of their small size.

Beans

Pole and bush beans thrive in upside-down containers. However ensure that you
water them adequately and place them in a sunny area.

Peppers

Bell peppers and hot peppers are good choices for an inverted garden. Hang them in a sunny spot and keep them well watered.

Cucumbers

Choose smaller pickling cucumbers as they are easier to grow upside-down. Bush cucumbers are not a good choice and don’t do well in inverted containers.

Eggplant

The small varieties of eggplant grow nicely and are easy to manage in an inverted pot.

Sweet potatoes

These tubers grow fantastically and the size of the tubers are considerably larger than that of the ones grown on the ground.

Herbs

Home grown herbs aren’t just fashionable, but they’re coveted by most health enthusiasts and culinary experts. There are numerous herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary, oregano and mint among others that thrive with this method of gardening.

Non-edible ornamental plants

There are loads of ornamental plants that make quite a statement when used with the inverted gardening technique. A few favourites include:

Phalaenopsis orchids

Commonly known as the Moth orchid, these are excellent ornamental plants that can perk up any space. Keep in mind that over-watering can kill them.

Pony tail palms

These grow well in a temperate climate, but cannot withstand the cold and should be placed indoors. When repotting the plant, ensure that it keeps all its roots. To maintain its original shape, do not snip the ends of the leaves.

Bilbergias

These are evergreen perennials and they have rosette-forming, brilliantly-coloured flowers. They are epiphytes, which means they absorb moisture and nutrients from the air.

Syngonium

This is a commonly cultivated houseplant. It needs to be repotted every second spring. Pruning will keep the leaves more arrow-shaped and make the plant bushy in appearance.

Moss roses

In India it is called the Nau Bajiya or the 9 o’clock flower since it is in full bloom at nine in the morning. It is a small plant that requires almost no attention to help it grow. It has vibrant flowers that can brighten up any room.

The pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are intriguing plants to grow and make great conversation starters. They need ample sunlight and moisture. Most pitcher plants are carnivorous and will help you keep pesky insects away.

Agave

The agave is most commonly confused with the cacti or aloe family; though it looks similar to each of these plants, it belongs to neither family. Agave is a desert plant, so it doesn’t require constant watering. However, some species of agave have sap that can irritate the skin and most agave have thorns that can cause injury.

Caring for your inverted plants

Hang your upside-down plants in a sunny location and water them well, making sure that water reaches the bottom of the root ball. The water should in fact run out of the bottom. Watering requirements for your upside-down garden will usually vary depending on the plant species and local climate. In most places, especially during periods of hot, dry weather, your upside-garden will require watering on a daily basis, if not more frequently. Make sure you take out the dry leaves and prune any shoots growing out of shape at least once a month. Liquid fertilisers such as vermiwash are useful, but should only be used annually. Make it a point to redo the root balls once every two years for the ideal growth of your inverted plants.

Who is this for

As your plants grow, you may notice them reaching upward towards the sunlight. This is completely normal and will eventually cease as the plants get larger or begin bearing fruit. While the entire process may seem a bit whacky and outside of normal methods, but upside-down gardening is a great way to enjoy beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables, without the inconveniences of traditional gardening. What’s more, it doesn’t take up a whole lot of space, making this the perfect alternative for urban gardeners and others having little ground space. Upside-down gardening also provides the additional benefit of having your plants at eye level, eliminating the need for bending or stooping, whether you’re watering or harvesting.

These inverted pieces add great aesthetic value to your surroundings, making them perfect as centre pieces or displays at exhibitions. Businesses often use them to give the workplace an earthy and yet modern décor, while doctors often display such inverted pieces in their waiting rooms to create a soothing environment. No matter how inverted pieces are used, they lend both practical and aesthetic value to your habitat.

This was first published in the December 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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It’s official! It pays to go green for the sake of your skin. Plants are packed with the goodness of high quality nutrients, which are beneficial for immunity and skin repair. Plant foods have long been known to promote health and wellness. Cultures where the diet primarily features plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are found to have increased longevity and reduced rates of cancers and chronic diseases.

Traditionally, the goodness of plants has been attributed to the health-promoting effects of their array of vitamins, minerals and fibre. More recently, however, research studies are uncovering a new story. Plant foods contain thousands of other compounds in addition to macronutrients [complex carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fibre] and micronutrients [vitamins and minerals]. These additional compounds are collectively known as phytonutrients. Simply put, phytonutrients are active compounds in plants that provide proven benefits to humans when consumed.

Phytonutrients provide plants with protection from environmental challenges, such as damage from ultraviolet light, and when we consume plants rich in phytonutrients, they provide us with protection as well. These compounds have an ability to counter the attack of free radicals.

Phytonutrients, in minute quantities, have a number of benefits on the skin which include anti-aging and skin clarifying. They are like beauty shots which provide large benefits to the skin even in very small quantities. Ongoing research in this area has unearthed various classes of phytonutrients found in different plants. As we shall find out, this is one of the important reasons why one needs to eat different kinds of plant foods.

Classes of phytonutrients

Phytonutrients have been classified in different ways either based on their family groups, chemical structure or biological activity. I have found that the easiest is the one based on their primary ingredients. One unique quality of phytonutrients is that they can be identified by the colour they impart to various foods as we will see below. They are also loosely, therefore, known as plant pigments:
Flavonoids: These are the plant pigments derived from phenols that give plants their colour, like the deep of blue of blueberries, the purple of grapes, the orange of pumpkins or the red of tomatoes. Flavonoids include the anthocyanidins in blueberries and the quercetin found in onions.

Isoflavonoids and lignans: These nutrients contain plant hormones or phytoestrogens and are found in soy foods. Isoflavonoids are also found in nuts while lignans are found in flaxseed and rye.

Organic acids: The most important one, ferulic acid, is found in whole grains and is believed to delay skin aging in combination with Vitamin C.

Terpenoids: These include the basic terpenoids like limonene which is found in citrus food peels, as well as the carotenoids [Vitamin A precursors], coenzyme Q10, the phytosterols, and the tocopherols and tocotrienols like Vitamin E.

Organo-sulphurs: These are found in cruciferous plants like cabbages and sulphur compounds in garlic.

The most practical way of understanding and incorporating these phytonutrients or beauty shots in our diet is to look at the source of these nutrients. So let’s look at the different kinds of plant food and what sort of nutrients they provide us with.

Beauty shots in fruits

The purple-blue pigment that gives fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and red and purple grapes their unique colouration is called anthocyanidin. This pigment also protects plants from the damaging effects of oxidation. The antioxidant properties of anthocyanidins are now being studied by healthcare researchers who are determining that these pigments don’t just support the health of plants, but of humans as well.

The more we learn about beauty busters or free radicals, the more we realize how they make the skin age faster and lose its elasticity. We can understand, therefore, why antioxidants are gaining an important place in the nutrient table. Among the antioxidants, purple-blue pigments are found to have unique features. They protect cells and tissues from free radical damage in both water-soluble and fat-soluble environments. Further, their free radical scavenging capabilities are thought to be more effective than many of the currently well-known vitamin antioxidants, For instance, their antioxidant activity is almost 50 times that of either Vitamin C or Vitamin E, the vitamins most of us like to befriend!

These substances are also essential in the protection of collagen, the strength provider we spoke about earlier. They prevent the breakdown of collagen and thus protect the skin from aging, so they certainly qualify as genuine beauty foods. Incorporation of these fruits in our daily diet will ensure that we keep aging at bay, the natural way!

Beauty shots in vegetables

Our mothers and grandmothers were right—the foods we loved to hate as children are particularly healthy for us. Members of the Brassica family of vegetables, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and bok choy appear to have significant beauty promoting properties. Studies have shown that people who consume these vegetables frequently have not only a lower risk of developing a variety of cancers, but also a sip of the elusive elixir of youth.

While these vegetables also contain significant vitamin and mineral profiles, the key to their unique health-promoting abilities may be the presence of phytochemical known as gluicosinolate. These have a profound effect on our liver enzymes and beneficially support the metabolism of oestrogen, the most important female hormone. This partially explains the effect that these vegetables have on the softness and texture of the skin as well as its clarity. Indirectly, hormones also maintain good vascularity of the skin, contributing to its glow factor.

Beauty shots in whole grains

Diets that feature significant amounts of whole grains have been proved to offer protection against the development of cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and skin disintegrity. While whole grains provide an array of important constituents such as fibre, resistant starches, vitamins and minerals, it is important to appreciate the important health contribution of the phytochemicals that they contain.

The germ and bran of whole grains such as rice, barley and oats contain a concentrated amount of important phytochemicals that belong to the organic acid family. Included in this family of compounds are protective acids like ferulic acid. While whole grains are a significant source like fertile acid, certain fruits and vegetables like spinach, parsley, grapes and rhubarb are also known to contain this important compound.

Ferulic acid has been found to be a potent antioxidant that is able to scavenge free radicals as well as protect against damage to cells and tissues. In combination with Vitamin C, it is believed to have strong anti-aging properties and is extremely beneficial to skin health and glow.

Beauty shots in tea

Drinking tea is an important cultural feature in all the Asian nations and is slowly gaining popularity elsewhere in the world as well, due to its advantages. Tea is packed with beauty shots, the most important being catechins. In addition to being an important feature of green tea, catechins are also found in other plant-based foods such as apples, grapes, raspberries and avocados.

Among their many benefits, catechins are powerful antioxidants. They also support healthy gastrointestinal tract function, help in detoxification, and aid in the repair of damaged DNA and skin aging and can, in some cases, even reverse these processes.

Catechins are known to appear in the bloodstream, get circulated relatively quickly and at levels that provide benefits from drinking just a few cups of tea a day. They have the ability to repair UV damage and possibly even provide preventive care against sun exposure, though these studies are still under research.

The amazing thing about these beauty shots is that they work beautifully on their own and even better in combination. This sits well with most cuisines as vegetables are usually eaten in combination with grains, especially in dominantly vegetarian societies.

Today, we know that plant power is not only green but is bursting with colour. The colour in our diet has the ability to add colour and glow to our skin.

Excerpted with permission from
Skin Deep: An Inside Out Approach to Looking Good, Naturally!;
Published by: Harpercollins India
Price: INR199

This was first published in the May 2011 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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