Gardening is great for your mental health according to green thumbed gardener

Lydia Lakemoore, aged 26, from Thorne has always grown up around gardening – and she says spending more time tending her plants outside has helped her cope with ‘dark days’.

Her family grow and eat all of their own food in their sustainable garden.

There are many health benefits of this green lifestyle but one of the main ones for Lydia is the impact it has on her mental health.

She said: “You get a great dose of fresh air and exercise whilst gardening.

“I’m an over thinker and my brain can race too quickly.

“But when I’m gardening I can’t do that I’m distracted by the plants.

“I love the quote from Audrey Hepburn which goes ‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow’.”

Lydia runs a blog called Your Organic PT where she discusses the benefits of gardening on your physical and mental health.

“In my darkest days it got me out of bed when nothing else would.

“You have to get up to water your plants, they are relying on you to grow.

“You also get to reap the rewards of eating the best quality fresh food.”

But gardening is not for the faint hearted. If you want to be fully sustainable like Lydia and her family it can be quite time consuming but according to Lydia it’s worth the effort.

She said: “Gardening is a full time hobby but it’s so worth it.

“It gives me something to look forward to. Suddenly you’re planning what your planting in 10 years time when before I didn’t want there to be a next year.

“I’m now thinking about what I will be planting in 50 years time in the future.”

As well as being an avid gardener Lydia also runs the herbalist shop Jacksons on Printing Office Street.

But she does not let running a busy business stop her from spending time with nature.

“I spend as much time outside as I do inside and my immune system thanks me for it.

“I can be out gardening in February and not even be cold.

“It’s helped me in a 1000 different ways both physically and mentally.

“I find it grounding and comforting.”

In a modern world Lydia’s lifestyle can seem hard to obtain, but she has never known any different.

“My parents always had this dream of a simple life.

“They strove for happiness always and I have to thank my parents for that,” she said.

Lydia grew up with her parents raising chickens, quails, ducks and geese on their property.

Their home did not even had internet installed until 2019.

If you’re interested in Lydia’s story you can find out more about her gardening adventures on her blog https://www.yourorganicpt.com/ or on her Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yourorganicpt/.