Star digs mental health benefits

DAME Helen Mirren has opened up about her passion for gardening – saying it has boosted her mental health during her darkest hours.

The Oscar-winning star, 74, loves nothing more than “getting your hands dirty, diving down to the root of it all and finding the real joy of growth”.

And she says schools should teach gardening to pupils so future generations can benefit in the same way she has.

Dame Helen said: “I love to spend time in my garden, if I have a few free hours I love to dig in the dirt.

“It’s so calming, worthwhile and a really good way of keeping those dark dragons away, which I do have at times.”

“Not enough young people garden or even know how to. They should teach it in schools. It’s such a positive thing and very useful.

“Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That’s part of the fun of it. You are always learning.” In an article in

Yours magazine, Dame Helen – who once created a temporary garden while filming – says the hobby blossomed in the 1960s as she was learning her trade. She explained: “My penchant for gardening came during my time at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford where I found the physicality of Shakespeare’s material and the material world of plants sort of converged.

“It was at Stratford that I developed a passion for the outdoors and countryside – the scent of damp earth and pungent wild flowers. “Nature has become a passion and a tonic for me so finding a way to keep it close is a priority. “I even made a garden outside my trailer in — Lithuania while shooting (2005 TV series) Elizabeth I.

“I am not very good at turning off and doing nothing but gardening is wonderful because it is absorbing, meditative, a learning process and physical.”

BLOOMING CAREER On stage at Stratford in 1968