Garden Wildlife Week and Growing for Well-Being

This week marks Garden Wildlife Week and Growing for Well-Being 2023 and there’s no better time to get green fingered, embrace the great outdoors, appreciate the wildlife, than with the arrival of the summer sunshine too!

Running from 6th to 12th June, these aim to raise awareness of gardening and horticulture and promotes different ways to help preserve and support our well-balanced ecosystem, better known as our gardens. At Oaklands House Care Centre, we love to provide our residents the time to enjoy the outdoors, and benefits that gardening brings to our emotional, psychological, and physical health. We believe it’s important, now more than ever before, to find simple and positive ways to relax and feel happy, and at Oaklands for our residents it’s a favourite place to relax and unwind. A garden in full bloom can be pleasing to the eyes and nose, but tending to beautiful gardens also has a huge impact on our overall health.

Here, we have outlined some of the beneficial aspects gardening brings to our residents’ lives at Oaklands:

Having a small plot of land or garden to tend to give everyone involved in the project a sense of responsibility. Caring for plants or vegetables is a great way for our residents to show their respect for other living things, and is a fulfilling, enjoyable activity, where our residents love to connect with one another, and work together to tend to their garden, vegetable plots and the amazing creatures that live in our gardens, helping them to flourish.

Helps Dementia

It’s very satisfying to nurture plants and it’s an activity that people feel naturally connected to. For people with Dementia, gardening can bring peace and concentration, while relieving any tension, or frustration. Going outdoors is also very important for sensory stimulation too. Some of our residents may not be able to actively participate in gardening, but they can still enjoy holding the earth, feel the texture, smell the herbs, flowers and listen to the sound of birds in our garden.

Increases Vitamin D

Getting regular time in the sun is important for getting enough vitamin D. Not only is it a good mood regulator, vitamin D aids calcium absorption, bone health, and your immune system.

In honour of Garden Wildlife Week, we’ve stopped to smell the roses, and have been enjoying our freshly planted flowers in our beautiful gardens.

Whilst out in the garden enjoying the sunshine eating ice-creams and ice- lollies residents enjoyed taking part in a game of A-Z of wildlife that might visit our garden. Residents came up with various birds, bugs and animals, unfortunately we could not find an answer in the UK for the letters U and Z, but a very enjoyable afternoon was had by everyone.