Dig. Plant. Breathe.
As spring’s arrival in the Northern Hemisphere coincides with government stay-at-home orders, the itch to get outside has turned backyard gardens into a getaway for the mind in chaotic times.
Gardeners who already know that working with soil is a way to connect with nature say it helps take away their worries, at least temporarily.
“I love to see things grow,” Lindsay Waldrop said. “It’s incredibly therapeutic.”
Now more than ever.
Waldrop, a resident of Anaheim, California, has an anxiety disorder. Exercise is supposed to help, but her new job as a college biology professor had prevented her from getting into a routine.
“Sometimes I just like to sit and dig holes in the quiet with my own thoughts,” she said. “Outside, it takes my mind off. It gives something for my hands to do. It gives you a separate problem to think about than whatever else is going on. It gets you off of social media.”
Waldrop and her husband moved last summer from New Mexico, where she didn’t have much luck gardening in a scorching climate. At her new home, she got rid of the lawn, installed an irrigation system, and recently planted dozens of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and other vegetables.
Over the years, Waldrop converted her skeptical husband, who initially wondered why digging in the dirt and moving things around was considered fun.
After tasting his first home-grown tomatoes, he was converted.
Families, too, are discovering that gardening gives cooped-up kids something to do, builds their self-esteem and brings variety to what has suddenly become a lot of time spent together.
In Miami, Annika Bolanos isn’t a fan of the south Florida heat and mosquitoes. But going outdoors lately has been a lifeline.
Bolanos works at home making cakes and doing bookkeeping with her husband’s golf cart business. Her three young children add an extra layer of busy, and together they’ve seeded a variety of vegetables and herbs.
“We have always loved the idea of growing our own food,” Bolanos said. “It feels good to eat something that you grew yourself too. It also helps my kids eat more fruits and veggies since they find it cool to eat what they have grown.”
:ahhhhhhhh