Why nature is the very best tonic for body and soul
Nature itself is the best physician,’ according to Hippocrates, who lived in the 4th Century BC and is generally regarded as the father of Western medicine.
And now, 25 centuries later, his words have a new resonance. As these unprecedented events unfold around us, many of us seek out green spaces for solace. It is almost as if the knowledge that nature is good for us is inherent in us all.
And there is so much happening outside – in parks and gardens, verges and woodlands. Indeed, being restricted to walking locally doesn’t mean missing out on the joyful unveiling of spring.
The leaves are just beginning to unfurl, wild flowers starting to bloom. Around me there are wood anemones, celandines and violets. Wild garlic will soon burst into flower, and a friend who lives over the river from me posted a photograph of the first bluebell on her local patch.
Birdsong is the soundtrack, no longer drowned out by traffic and planes. Nest-building and the business of raising the next generation will soon be under way.
My bird-feeders are busy. I put out a mixture of fat-balls, nuts and seeds. There’s a bird bath, too, to help keep hard-working feathers in good order.
With most of us unable to go in to work, we suddenly have the time we so often crave to give attention to our gardens, balconies or window boxes, and we are relishing it.
Old skills that have been lost are being found again. The delight of having mud under the fingernails is being rediscovered.
My friend Emma, a professional gardener, has a Facebook group that swaps tips and tricks.
Someone has turned an old bath into a vegetable bed. Another is growing carrots in recycling boxes that were damaged in a storm. A third is sharing her neighbour’s greenhouse.
People with no outside space are growing herbs and microgreens on windowsills.
Home-grown produce tastes unlike anything you can buy, and I feel – justifiably, I think – proud when I can serve a meal using ingredients I’ve grown myself.
King of my vegetable garden at the moment is rhubarb. Wonderfully low-maintenance, it returns just when we most feel the need for a bit of comfort food. And what could be more comforting than freshly picked pink stalks poached with orange and ginger for breakfast?
Carrots, broad beans and radishes have already been sown directly in the raised beds, and in the greenhouse I have lettuce, pak choi, peas, courgettes, tomatoes and French beans in the early stages of germination.
The thrill of seeing that first tentative green shoot pushing up through the soil never fades.
And I’ve got dahlias. I grew them for the first time last year and they filled the flower beds with vibrant, spirit-lifting colour for most of the summer.
Hippocrates was right – nature is a great healer, and if you’d like its help to stay mentally fit in the coming weeks, get out in the garden!