With the NHS celebrating its 70^th anniversary this year, we thought we would look at the health benefits that your garden can bring to your life.

With more of us now living longer and many of us in our older years suffering from health problems such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis it is important to try and stay active on a daily basis and do some gentle exercise.

Getting out in the garden on a nice day is a great way to bring regular exercise into your life. With your lawn to mow or turf that needs watering and maintaining this brings in regular walking into your routine. Then there is weeding and potting plants which make you bend and use your joints and it all builds up to getting your body moving and staying active. You might be surprised at how fit your garden can make you become. Many people when they get out in the garden are there for a few hours which involves walking, bending pushing lawnmowers, raking soil and more.

Getting some fresh air and exercise is generally always seen as a good thing and can help us on the road to staying fitter for longer. It is said that going out in the garden can reduce stress and anxiety and it can just take your mind of any problem that you may have too.

There is also the benefit of the calories that you can burn off while mowing that lawn or weeding the borders in your garden. It is surprising how many calories regular gardening can take off.

Now I can hear you say, well we aren’t as energetic as we used to be. This might be the case, but you can do the jobs in your garden that you feel capable of doing and do things at your own pace, as there isn’t an instructor there telling you to go faster like in the gym.

Also, look at having your garden landscaped in a way that makes gardening easier for you. Raised beds can help with planting flowers, herbs and vegetables and at Mitchell Turf we sell a range of landscaping supplies like gravel and bark to help reduce weeds and make your garden look great throughout the year.

You will also find that there are now tools to help make those jobs which involve reaching and bending that bit easier. From long reach tools and one-handed lawn shears to battery powered lawn trimmers.

So, if you have a garden and want to get more active, but don’t want to go to the gym or do a work out DVD, then why not give your garden and yourself some well-earned TLC.