Healthy Gardening

Dorene Harter has been a gardener for almost all of her 68 years.

Growing plants and flowers and vegetables, she says, has kept her young.

“It is good for your health to work outside and exercise that way,” says Harter, now a Master Gardener. “Through the years I worked, that was always my stress-reliever.”

Gardening has obvious health benefits for both the mind and body. But, as we age, some gardeners need to find ways to adapt to physical challenges.

A free Gardening for Good Health workshop will be held Saturday at the WSU/Spokane County Extension Center. The event will talk about ways to adapt gardening for people with special needs, as well as provide information on composting, growing herbs and organic gardening.

At the event, Harter will help demonstrate how to build a raised garden bed.

“You can plant almost anything in them,” she says.

Raised beds are one of the ways people can continue to garden when they have trouble bending down to the ground, says Sheila Yamamoto, a recreation therapist with St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute.

“Shorten the distance between the person and the garden,” Yamamoto says.

At St. Luke’s, patients have been tending to flower and vegetable gardens for years as part of their rehabilitation.

Gardening helps improve balance, fine-motor skills and endurance, she says.

And it’s something patients can continue to do once they return home.

“If they get up and plant a flower or plant a tomato, they have that motivation to take care of it,” Yamamoto says. “It’s just wonderful exercise.

“There’s so much self-esteem in growing something.”

As with any physical activity, it’s important that gardeners don’t overdo it, Yamamoto says.

“The biggest issue that we tell people is for them to pace themselves,” she says.

Take a kitchen timer and set it for 20 minutes to start. When it goes off, it’s time to go in.

Or use just a small container when weeding. When it’s full, it’s time for a little break.

Yamamoto will talk about using ergonomic gardening tools and where to find the large-handled, telescoping tools that can make gardening easier for people with arthritis or other issues.

“Things are out there, once you’re aware of them,” she says.

Saturday’s workshop also will include cooking demonstrations, and tips on container gardening and making birdbaths and birdhouses.

Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer individual questions. And there will be gardening activities for kids.

“It’s good for their health, too, to get outside,” Harter says.

“They’re inside over computers and video games. They don’t get outside to play.”