Grow Your Own Wellness Garden
Anyone with a little outdoor space can create their own therapeutic garden. The first step is designing your garden to suit your health needs. Here are few ideas to get you started:
Aromatherapy Garden– Feeling tense? Can’t sleep? Fill your peaceful backyard garden with scented plants to help relieve anxiety, manage pain and improve sleep. Choose wellness garden plants like chamomile, lavender, and rosemary. Surround a lounge chair with these aromatic herbs all summer and harvest the leaves and flowers for indoor aromatherapy sessions during the winter.
Healthy Eats Garden – Looking to improve your diet? Use your backyard wellness garden to organically grow your favorite or hard-to-find fruits and veggies. Cultivate white asparagus, Belgian endive and black raspberries or create your own blend of homegrown herbal tea. Include an outdoor dining set in your design plan for a convenient place to take meals or enjoy refreshing beverages.
Outdoor Exercise space – Are you bored with your exercise routine? Fresh air and sunshine can brighten the mood and revitalize any workout session. A peaceful backyard garden is the perfect spot for yoga, aerobics or a brisk ride on a stationary bike. Grow your own wellness-garden privacy hedge with boxwood, forsythia or lilac.
After-Hours Retreat – Are you a busy parent who can’t catch a break until the kids are in bed? Plant a moon garden, hang string lights or create a solar-light path through your backyard wellness garden. Then escape for a little R&R while keeping the baby monitor close at hand.
Disconnect, Then Reconnect – Are your electronic devices messing with your internal clock? Put down your laptop, tablet or phone and grow your own wellness garden for butterflies and songbirds. Reconnect with nature by including wellness garden plants like milkweed, trumpet vine and coneflowers.
Tips for Creating a Peaceful Backyard Garden
Once you’ve decided to grow your own wellness garden, it’s time to implement your plan. Consider these points when creating a healing garden design:
Go chemical-free – Choosing organic methods for gardening reduces exposure to pesticides and herbicides, both of which have been shown to cause health issues.
Water conservation – Protect this valuable and life-sustaining resource by installing a drip irrigation system, only watering when needed or planting drought-tolerant plants. .
Manageable – Select low maintenance plants so you can spend more time enjoying the backyard wellness garden rather than working in it.
Safety – Smooth walkways and lighted nighttime paths reduce the chance for falls and injuries.
