by Michael Smith (Veshengro
The under-35 age group made up a significant number of the participants, suggesting that more young people are gardening than middle-aged or retired people with the most popular reasons for gardening within this age group being relaxation, maintenance, and growing their own produce.
“It's great to see more and more young people getting into gardening,” said Mark Bartram, Managing Director of Lawnmowers Direct. “Young people are becoming more environmentally and economically conscious, and are often voicing their opinions about food production, so it's hardly a surprise there are young adults who aim for self-sufficiency.”
Just under a fifth (19.2%) claimed their garden was mostly vegetables, or that a vegetable patch was a significant part of their garden and the time spent gardening varied greatly, with around 27.3% gardening for under an hour a week and 36.1% gardening for over three hours a week.
I do not think that we should be surprised by the findings and it is uplifting and enlightening to see the younger generation really understanding that quality “Grow Your Own” produce is far more beneficial to our health. By eating home grown produce everyone reduces the health burdens of the possibility of genetically-engineered foods and of pesticides to their health.
The added benefits of relaxation and being out in the outdoors is another bonus. Mindfulness, stress depletion, increased exposure to sunlight from being in the outdoors, which improves the Vitamin D level in our bodies, will all help to reduce the dreaded stress in today’s world.
Obviously there are risks to being exposed to too much UV radiation from the sun and precautions on that level must be taken, in the same way as we must take precautions when gardening to eliminate other risks of injury, be this from cuts or scratches, or from bending and lifting. But there are ways to do that with regards to most of those risks, from sunscreen to gloves and the right kind of tools and devices.
So, let's get out there and enjoy a spot of gardening and enjoyment it should be rather than a dreaded chore.
© 2015
