GARDENING

AS someone who has suffered bouts of depression and had a stroke almost a decade ago, Monty Don knows the importance of his garden only too well. “Gardening has helped my wellbeing immeasurably on a number of levels,” he reflects. “In terms of physical activity, it is increasingly shown as one of the best and most healthy things that anybody can do.”

The Gardeners’ World presenter, who has just finished filming Paradise Gardens, a two-part BBC2 series visiting some of the world’s most stunning Islamic gardens, has no thoughts of retirement.

“There are people in their 90s who are gardening well because you have to bend, stoop, lift, twist, turn, walk, reach. It’s a full range of movement. Increasingly, people are realising its importance in terms of physical mobility and core strength.”

He has said he uses a light box to replicate sunlight in the winter, but getting out into the garden also helps.

“It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, if it’s a howling gale or rain, being outside in the light and in the air is intrinsically very good for your health, particularly if you are moving around.”

“In terms of your mental health, because you growing something, you’re doing something positive, even if you are just tidying up.”

Someone weighing around nine stone will burn 150 calories in half an hour of digging, while non-motorised mowing typically burns around 165 calories per 30 minutes, according to research from Harvard Medical School.

Raking the lawn for 30 minutes burns around 120 calories - the same as the calories burned in a half hour of Tai Chi, volleyball and even horseback riding - while half an hour of splitting wood burns the same amount of calories as half an hour of vigorous weight-lifting, research suggests.

When Monty, 62, suffered a minor stroke in 2008, he took a three-year break from Gardeners’ World, returning on condition that the series would be filmed at Longmeadow, his two-acre garden in Herefordshire. Pottering in the garden helped him recover, he reflects.

“I find pruning during the middle of winter therapeutic. The thing about gardening is it’s something that takes a lot of your attention but you don’t have to think too much about it.”

His latest book, Down to Earth, contains a wealth of information about many aspects of gardening, from growing and planting, to pruning, composting and mulching. Its main message is that gardening is the secret to living well.

Physical contact with the earth is healing, he believes.

“You plant something and it has a future. It needs you. You’re investing in a glimmer of hope.”