Getting into the garden has lots of benefits, but did you know it can also help loneliness?
Gardening Australia presenter Sophie Thomson is encouraging people to get to know their neighbours as part of this month’s Neighbour Day, and says the garden is the perfect place to start.
“Gardening is one of those things that brings people together,” Sophie told The Senior.
“It’s the old-fashioned way of connecting people. We used to all grow stuff, but never grew the same thing, so we could swap our produce.”
Sophie said as more people connected through social media, it fostered even more social isolation.
“We need to stop interacting with our screens, which aren’t real connections, and connect with our neighbours.”
She encouraged people to use their patch to help build vibrant communities – even if its just having a quick catch-up.
“It doesn’t have to be anything big. If there’s an elderly lady down the street, knock on her door and have a chat on the verandah. Or if you know someone who’s family has moved away, just have a cuppa on a more regular basis.
“Even getting the neighbours’ kids to help pick produce, like cherry tomatoes that are labour intensive, can be a great way to connect.”
There are also plenty of ways to use the garden for a grand-scale community project, including garden parties, community and verge gardens, building or wildlife corridor or even a butterfly garden where the entire street plants something different to attract butterflies.
Or, you can try this project dreamed up by Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis.
“Costa put worm farms on his street so his neighbours can bring their kitchen scraps to feed the worms,” Sophie said.
But whatever you do, it’s the connection that matters.
“It doesn’t take much to smile and say g’day and build a connection.”
Neighbour Day was founded in Melbourne in 2003 by Andrew Heslop after the remains of an elderly woman were found inside her suburban home.
Elsie Brown had been dead for two years – forgotten by her neighbours, her friends and her family. While Andrew did not know Mrs Brown he was shocked by the apparent ease in which the world had left her behind. He made it his mission to connect neighbours so it wouldn’t happen again.
This year, Neighbour Day is focusing on combating loneliness through connection in communities.
According to organiser Relationships Australia, loneliness increases the likelihood of mortality by 26 per cent – similar to the effect of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
It’s often associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure and the onset of disability.
To prevent this, the organisation has launched the loneliness challenge.
It’s designed to get Australians to reach out to the vulnerable and lonely members of their community to create a connection.
Neighbour Day is on March 31.
More details online at neighbourday.org
