By: Blonde Two

My name is Blonde Two and I am a gardener!

There is something about growing things and creating an environment that really switches me on. In truth, I would have liked to have been a farmer but, when your only paddocks are a gravelled town garden, growing on a small scale has to do.

My current favourite garden places are my greenhouse, in which, this year, I am determined to grow the ingredients for a delicious pasta sauce, and my newly planted New Zealand garden, which includes a tree fern with, as yet, no visible trunk.

One day I hope my baby tree fern will look like this…

The only problem that I can see with gardening (apart from the fact that my garden is north facing and only sees the sun between April and September) is that it doesn’t have the impressive outdoor image that other Get Outside based pursuits have. People who climb Everest are impressive, people who walk all of the Wainrights are impressive, but people who garden… well aren’t they just a bit middle-aged?

I hope not because, in truth, gardening is just as good for you as other outdoor pursuits. Gardening improves your muscles, improves your flexibility, improves your diet (if you grow fruit and veg) and (definitely in my case) improves your mood. It also adds value to your house, which is more than can be said for walking, map reading or sleeping in strange places inside blue bags!

So go on… Get Outside… in your garden!