Gardening or landscaping is perhaps one of the best low-impact exercises that provide twice the satisfaction. Aside from creating more beautiful surroundings, the low-impact workout helps burn calories, stretches the muscles, and promotes blood flow.

However, gardening also comes with some health risks – such as unnecessary strain on the body. This is why it’s important to landscape responsibly so that you will be able to hit that sweet balance between a healthy body and a healthy garden.

That being said, following are some tips on how to landscape for improving health:

Know What You Want

Know what you want to do with the plants first. While landscaping usually means a solid overall plan for the garden targeted towards a particular theme, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You can limit your activities to simply pruning and cultivating the plants so that they don’t look neglected.

Once you’ve managed to do that, you can start arranging the pots, removing plants and replanting them to create a strategic design for your landscape. You should have a fairly good idea of how you want things to end up and if you don’t, check out landscaping magazines and websites for some inspiration.

Get the Right Equipment

Make sure you’ve got the right equipment for whatever it is you intend to do. The most basic items include pruning shears, a trowel, a pole saw, some pots and loads of soil and fertilizer.

Pruning shears and a pole saw would be invaluable as they let you cut away overgrown plants so that you could shape a cleaner and balanced garden. Pole saws are perfect for cutting away high branches – like those of the bougainvillea.

Wear the Right Clothes

Any work outdoors leaves you vulnerable to the harsh rays of the sun so make sure you’ve got sunscreen on! A big hat, some gloves, and sturdy boots are also essential so that you’d be able to get down and dirty with the plants. Wear shades if you must to help protect your eyes from too much sunlight.

Slow But Sure

Go slow but sure – remember, you’re not trying to win any contest here. The goal is to improve your health through landscaping, not tax it unnecessarily by spending more hours than you’re supposed to.

Set a daily goal for what you want to be done and slowly work your way towards it. Opt to landscape when the harsh sun is at its weakest – such as early in the morning or late in the afternoon. This way, you won’t have to use as much sunscreen.

Stop and Admire Your Work

Remember – landscaping is as much an emotional exercise as it is a physical one. Stop once in a while to admire the work you’re doing. Take a deep breath and allow clean air to fill your lungs – all of these would contribute to a soul-deep relaxation that comes with being out in nature.

Study the Plants

Landscaping can also be turned into a mental exercise – allowing your mind to dwell on things that promote creative thinking. Exercise your mind by studying the plants you have or plan to have. How do they fare in the garden? What kind of fertilizers do they need and how much care should be given? Make a notebook if you want to detail how each plant should be treated so that you’d have a handy material to pore over.

Know When You Need Help

Note that you can’t do all the work alone – especially if the garden has been neglected from some time or if you’re starting from scratch. For example, if there’s a particularly nasty beehive in your garden, it’s not a good idea to handle it yourself. Call the experts to prevent any damage on your person.

Beautiful View

Don’t forget the sense of accomplishment you get once you’ve managed to landscape the garden. You don’t even have to finish the whole place before you can gain satisfaction from a job well done. Just looking at the plants you’ve managed to prune and cultivate would provide you with a healthy frame of band.

Take away Message

The best thing about landscaping for your health is the fact that it doesn’t stop. Plants and weeds continue to grow which means that you’ll have to continuously prune and maintain. At this point, the job becomes easier but the mental, physical, and emotional benefits are still there.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Feel free to comment if you have any other questions.