Compost and Mental Wellbeing

Nurturing our gardens has been enormously important during the past year. Even the least green-fingered amongst us has discovered the benefits of getting outside to mow a lawn or plant a few bulbs. Gardening enables us to connect with the outdoors. And during a lockdown, when outside activity is so restricted, gardening is food for the soul.

We used to have a large garden, about one fifth of an acre, with fruit cages, vegetable plots and a large expanse of lawn. We spent hours together taming the growth and watching it develop, until health issues and age transformed our garden from a hobby to a burden...but more of that in another blog post. We 'downsized', no more lawn, less flower beds, and a small patio where we could sit and enjoy the birds who visited from nearby Egerton Park.

But our gardening ambitions didn't entirely downsize with the move. With far less energy we still chose to grow a variety of vegetables in large pots, with some success, but without a compost heap, the need for an abundant supply of nourishing soil was challenging. When the first lockdown arrived in March 2020, I took it upon myself to upgrade our patio into a space filled with greenery, solar lights, even building a solar powered waterfall, where spurts of water could be heard dropping onto rocks and the occasional ornamental fairy. 

Our problem was compost! Pots of flowers and vegetables need high quality soil, and the price of delivered sacks of multi-purpose rose as the lockdown continued. We managed, somehow, spent our 'going-out' money on our 'staying in' patio and produced a variety of produce.  So what was the problem, you ask?

 Have you seen the price of bags of compost in 2021????  

Then husband Chris had an idea (always worrying). If we bought compost in bulk, he suggested, it would be cheaper...and yes it certainly was cheaper...about a quarter of the price. So yesterday, our 1000 litres of compost arrived ...no I haven't added an extra 0 by mistake...it really was a 1000 litres. The nice delivery man explained that his roller thing wouldn't work on our shingle drive, but did his best to leave the compost where we could still use our drive. Phew! I rang my upstairs neighbour to explain.  

So we've spent the last two days moving compost, filling pots, bins, buckets, any container we could find. Even our upstairs neighbour took pity on us and came out to assist. Have we made a dent in the compost? ....Slightly, but we have a way to go.

The really strange thing is that all that compost lifting has raised my spirits. I definitely feel rejuvenated. Such physical and purposeful outdoor activity has improved my mental health. Maybe moving compost should be prescribed by the NHS...