Summer Outdoor Activity: Herb Gardening

For an especially healthful activity this summer, try growing an herb garden! Gardening is a great low-impact activity that gets seniors outside and active, provides an creative outlet, and -- if you're planting herbs -- can bring edible results: tasty garnishes for the table! What's not to love? 

The health benefits of gardening herbs are numerous. Herbs themselves can have many medicinal benefits. Lavender is known to relieve stress and tension, and have a calming effect to aid sleep. Peppermint has the opposite effect: a whiff can help clear a fogged mind and wake you up. It can also reduce nausea or stomach upset. Catnip isn't just for cats: use a strong tea to pull down a fever and reduce muscle ache. Various other herbs in distilled or concentrated form can ease all kinds of other aches and pains, and generally improve well-being. 

Gardening as an activity also has health benefits. It requires a large range of motion, including kneeling, getting up and down, bending over, and using different tools. Being outside in the sunlight and fresh air is good, with the same positive effects as taking a long walk or doing other outdoor activities. Here are more reasons to garden from Caring Senior Service. 

If for whatever reason it's not possible to garden, but you'd still like to grow herbs, consider an indoor or porch-based garden. Also, going the traditional route with pots and dirt is always an option, but an even easier option is to grow herbs with a self-caring garden kit. Various kits are available that make growing herbs a breeze, such as this self-watering garden kit from Get Urban Leaf that only needs a glass bottle to grow. 

If you have a fish tank and would like to try something fun, check out an aquaponics kit. Essentially, an aquaponics kit is a garden that sits on top of or next to a fish tank, and uses the water and fish waste from the tank to grow the plants. Aquaponics kits are typically used for classroom education, but they can be a fun way to grow some herbs at home. 

However you decide to grow this summer, get some herbs going. You won't be disappointed!