Important advice
Be sensible about how much you can manage. Do little and often rather than all at once. Try not to feel frustrated about leaving things for another day!
Because there is always something to do in the garden, or enjoy in nature, this can help you over weeks, months and years.
You may want to start with gentle activities. As you gain in strength in confidence, you may gradually choose to do more physical ones.
Take the time to warm up with some gentle exercises or stretching before you start. It is also a good idea to warm down with stretching after you’ve finished. It doesn’t take long, and your muscles will thank you for it.
Gardening again has raised my morale … the pleasure of seeing the seeds grow and actively participating is most rewarding.
Rita, gardener, stroke survivor
You may find it best to wait for mild, dry days to get out in the garden. You can always take advantage of a rainy day to plan what you would like to do next.
Be sensible about how much you can manage. Do little and often rather than all at once. Try not to feel frustrated about leaving things for another day!
Gardens can inspire no end of activities. This can range from seated activities requiring fine motor skills to more physical maintenance. Or, you can simply spend time in nature.
We have suggested a number of activities you could try depending on your energy levels, mood, space and what you feel able to do.
Table top gardening
These activities can all be enjoyed sitting at a table. Most of them can be done inside if preferred.
You could try placing your equipment further away than usual. This will help with stretching and relaxing muscles.
Light gardening tasks
These activities involve a fairly light level of activity.
More physical gardening tasks
If you feel you would like to and are able to manage some more physical tasks, pick from one of these.
Cutting things and moving things around are good physical exercise. It gets the blood flowing.
Participant, Thrive Just 30! Initiative
Raking helps me maintain my balance and get lots of fresh air.
Participant, Thrive Just 30! Initiative
Appreciate nature
The beauty of the garden and nature are the many opportunities they offer for enjoyment. You don’t always have to be doing tasks, you could simply be inspired by your surroundings.
In 2012 Joanna, a retired Professor of European Natural History and History of Medicine at Glasgow University, suffered a stroke. It left her with no movement in the right side of her body.
It was her garden in East Lothian that provided a focus for her recovery. ‘My garden is very important I don’t know how I could have lived without it,’ says Joanna. ‘Early in the morning I look at the plants in my pots, like the Woolly lip fern, and they look the same but of course they are growing all the time. You have to pay attention.’
For Joanna, plants and gardens have been a way to find enrichment, peace and creativity. This included learning to paint scenes from nature left-handed, which required plenty of persistence.
In 2020 she published ‘Why Gardens Matter’. The book draws on her personal experience and shows how the outdoors can help us find moments of calm.
Read more of Joanna’s story
Why Gardens Matter is published by Luath Press