Updated March 25, 2022 – It is time to celebrate the joys and benefits of gardening and enjoy nature during National Garden Week! This year, this special event falls on 2 May – 8 May, 2022 in the UK and June 5 – 1, 2022 in the USA.
If you have two green thumbs, it’s the perfect time to get outside and beautify the space around you.
If you aren’t so great with raising plants in your own garden despite your most diligent efforts, you can still celebrate nature’s beauty with a visit to a nearby garden or spending time in outdoor spaces in your area. Either way – being outside in nature has enormous benefits.
A garden tour in fresh air and sunshine can have positive impacts on your mental health, as well as overall physical health benefits.
Strolling through a beautiful place or spending quality time in green spaces is calming, which can help lower stress and decrease blood pressure. Vitamin D from the sunshine helps boost your immune system.
What Is National Gardening Week?
In the USA, National Garden Week (the official name) was founded by National Garden Clubs, which celebrates this beautiful time of year during the first full week of June every year.
The Royal Horticultural Society honors a similar holiday in the UK at the end of April / beginning of May each year.
There’s even a National Gardening Day in the US, that signals the day of the year when it’s safe to start prepping your garden for the growing season. It’s on April 14, 2022 (I know – all these garden holidays are hard to keep track of!).
National Gardening Week is not only a great time to celebrate nature, it’s a time to promote awareness of gardening and Earth’s natural resources, it’s also a good opportunity to educate people on how to garden.
As any gardener worth their spade will tell you, gardening isn’t as simple as throwing a few plants into dirt and reaping the harvest, so it’s great to have some gardening education opportunities during these special days.
Checking with your local county or looking through local social media posts can be a great way to find an educational program in your area. Local master gardeners are also a wonderful resource for their fellow gardeners.
To take part in celebrating gardens and gardening, this There are plenty of ways to take part in celebrating gardens and gardening. This week you could:
- visit a botanical garden near you if you are in or near a big city
- search for tours of private gardens that may be open to the public during this week
- start a vegetable garden with plants from your local home store that are already partially grown (a great way to cultivate a healthy lifestyle is by eating fresh veggies from your own garden!)
- add some medicinal plants to your garden
- plant your own summer garden with colorful annuals like petunias, begonias and other heat-tolerant flowers
- head over to YouTube and visit some of the world’s most gorgeous gardens virtually (or try this gardening blog)
- Take a trip to your local nursery and pick out some new plant varieties for your garden.
- Give your garden a good spring cleaning. Pull out any weeds, rake up leaves, and add new mulch to your beds.
- Invite your friends and neighbors over for a garden party. Serve some refreshments and enjoy the company of others who love gardening as much as you do
- Bring the outside inside with a healthy new house plant or a beautiful flower arrangement
- start a super easy wildflower garden (see next section).
Easy Wildflowers In Raised Beds
For seniors who really can’t get out to grow vegetables or do a lot of garden care (maybe they are housebound or are physically unable to rake, hoe, or weed), there is good news – the feel-good power of plants can still be available with raised gardens or container gardens.
And the easiest plants to grow of all (in my opinion) are wildflowers in containers or raised beds.
You can buy raised garden beds that are small enough to fit on a patio, along with a drought-tolerant wildflower seed mix and a bag of dirt. A stackable container garden would work well, too.
Then, just sprinkle the seeds onto the soil, lightly cover them with some soil, and keep them watered.
Wildflowers grow fast, so it won’t be long before you have a teeny tiny wildflower “meadow” right there on the patio to enjoy all summer long.
Related Articles
Senior Gardening Tips (Making It Easy And Safe)
Best Gardening Safety Products for Seniors
National Lawn And Garden Month
