Ruth Binney - The Gardeners Wise Words And Country Ways

You are closest to God in the garden or so the old saying goes, and there are few keen gardeners who would dispute this fact. In its very origins the garden evolved as a place of perfection, a kind of paradise designed to revive both body and soul. Elements of this idea live on today, and to the passionate gardener, whether religious or not, there is no more pleasurable way to spend a day than digging, planting, pruning or just pottering around the garden.

Just the sheer physical work of gardening can do wonders for your wellbeing (as long as you take care not to strain your back), since exercise produces in the body feel-good chemicals called endorphins. Equally, there is great pleasure to be had in planning what you are going to grow and in choosing and ordering plants, bulbs and seeds. And although it is simply a fact of natures inevitable cycle, there is something hugely exciting about seeing the first bulbs of spring pushing up through the ground and spotting the first snowdrop or daffodil. Equally thrilling is the magic of the germination of plants from tiny seeds carefully planted and, as summer and autumn progress, the opening of fragrant blooms and the harvest of crops to enjoy freshly picked with family and friends and to preserve and store for the winter.

And health, too. For those who love both plants and physical activity there is no better combination, although gardening can be notoriously bad for the back.

Gardening lifts the mood, like any other physical activity. But even the sights and smells of a garden can raise the spirits. It is also proven that physical activity is a healthy way of dealing with stress, which will help to prevent dangerous rises in blood pressure. So it is perfectly legitimate to indulge in secateur therapy or to dig or weed yourself to a better state of mind. If you are both vegetable gardener and cook, a straight line to happiness is drawn by harvesting vegetables and, within minutes, making them into a delicious meal that you have created yourself and know to be additive free.

The idea is not new. Advising gentlemen which have little else to do, William Coles in The Art of Simpling of 1656 states that they should spend their spare time in their Gardens; either in digging, setting, weeding or the like, than which there is no better way in the world to preserve health. As well as health of the body, Coles also considered gardening a worthy diversion from idleness, and evill company, which often times prove the ruine of many ingenious people.

What greater pleasure can there be than to smell the sweet odour of herbes, trees, and fruites, and to behold the goodly colour of the same (Leonard Mascall, 1572)

A version of a sentiment expressed in the poem Gods Garden by Dorothy Frances Gurney, and a reflection of the link between the garden and paradise.

Whatever ones feelings about religion, it is undeniable that the making and tending of a garden can lift the spirits and produce genuine feelings of wonder and admiration at the beauty of nature. The usefulness of the garden is also a marvel, and it is surely no accident that, like medieval monks, we increasingly cultivate herbs for their medicinal and cosmetic as well as their culinary uses.

The book of Genesis describes the role of divine intervention in the creation of the garden: And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food and Gurney embroidered this account in her poem, which begins:

The Lord God planted a garden

In the first white days of the world,

And He set there an angel warden

In a garment of light enfurled.

And ends:

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer Gods heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

Though the ancient Egyptians were probably the earliest gardeners, it was their export of the notion of gardening to Persia that turned the garden into a place of pleasure. Paira-daeza was the Persian name for a terraced park planted with trees and shrubs and encompassing a game reserve. Most famous of all the ancient gardens were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon one of the seven wonders of the ancient world