Editorial

Jo McCarroll has the secret to keeping New Year resolutions.

Do you have any New Year resolutions, my green-fingered chums? I have just asked the NZ Gardener community on Facebook and Neighbourly to tell me what resolutions they had made, and their intentions and aspirations for the year ahead came thick and fast.

What was interesting was how many resolutions were shared by numerous people. To get and keep on top of the weeds once and for all was the most common pledge (and let me wish all of those hopeful innocents who aim to finally do that the very best of luck). Others said they wanted to mulch more (a brilliant idea); grow more from seed (also a very worthwhile and realistic goal); and to remember how much space they actually had and not buy any plants for which they did not have room (I grant you this sounds like a good idea, but sadly it is simply not realistic. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a gardener will run out of room to plant long before he or she runs out of plants to buy).

That’s the thing with New Years resolutions. Somehow we all seem to make the same ones. I saw a survey the other day which said more than half of us set a goal for the year ahead in late December and that most people aren’t making sensible resolutions about mulching. In fact, for most of us the vast majority of New Year resolutions could be boiled down to the same five goals: to get fit and lose weight; to eat healthier; to save money; to stress less; and to spend more time with family.

But (this study went on) apparently 92 per cent of those people who make those resolutions fail to achieve them. So somehow we set the same goals and almost all fail to meet them. And that’s silly because there is one simple activity that would make all those five goals easy to achieve and I, and I alone, can reveal it (spoiler alert: it’s gardening). Resolution one: To get fit and lose weight. Gardening is a great way to stay fit and active. Pulling weeds, moving plants, digging, planting, spreading mulch and compost, pruning trees, rushing to hide the plants you bought and have no room for from your significant other when he comes home unexpectedly – all of this is as good as a gym membership. Better, in fact, since you also get tomatoes. Resolution two: To eat healthy. I’m sorry to state the blinking obvious, but having a garden means you are likely to grow your own fruit and veges, and eat more, and fresher, fresh food and there is genuinely no downside to that. Resolution three: To save money. Again this is almost too evident to mention. Growing your own helps you cut your bill at the supermarket and greengrocer. You might also save on a gym membership (see resolution one). Resolution four: To stress less. As I think you, as a reader of NZ Gardener, already know, gardening is a great way to relax and relieve tension. Spending a day in the garden has been shown to improve mental health, reduce anxiety, promote positive thinking and is a sure-fire way to restore inner tranquillity. Resolution five: to spend more time with family. When you have a lot to do in the garden, you’ll find a lot to love about your family – not least the free labour they offer. In fact how you define family might broaden too (at my place, if you can push a wheelbarrow, you’re in).

So there we have it. Gardening is basically the secret to whatever change you hope to make this year. Maybe because it offers us – quite literally – a chance to turn over a new leaf?