Sally Rummery
As the sun sinks itself into the earth, I breathe out clouds of steam with each shovelful of bark chip. A truck sways past on the highway, the eyes of cattle glowing briefly in our headlights. Afterward, mum and I throw a sheet over the stolen wood and laugh with the adrenaline. Our music is loud as we drive across paddocks home.
It had been a bad day.
I was diagnosed with depression in 2015. In 2020, sent home as Australia shut down and struggling with symptoms, I took control of a neglected area of my mum’s garden. Set against a granite cliff backdrop, invisible from the house, the space was all but forgotten except as an extension of the neighbouring paddock. In the ensuing months, I spent every moment possible in the garden. I sprayed, weeded, designed, bought, planted, mulched and bark chipped. In the rain and in the snow. I designed sculptures and then I built them. I collected rocks from all over my parents’ properties and brought them back to put together paths.
Studies show that gardening significantly boosts levels of both serotonin and dopamine in the human brain. Exposure to bacteria in soil has been found to improve mood by supporting a healthy immune system, just as effectively as prescription anti-depressants. Microbes in the soil affect the brain indirectly by causing immune cells to release the chemical, cytokine. Cytokine works to activate the nerves that send signals from the body to the brain. Once stimulated, the nerves cause neurons in the brain to release serotonin into the part of the brain responsible for mood regulation.
The process of using nature to improve health is known as social and therapeutic horticulture. As well as promoting mental and physical health benefits, social and therapeutic horticulture is known to increase communication and thinking skills.
In a period of several months, I had only two bad days. I spent both in the garden. Each was lived as a succession of moments. Convincing myself to put in just one more rock. Mulch one more plant. I spent one sitting in the sun on a wooden seat I’d built myself because I didn’t have the energy to move. My dog slept at my feet and I was thankful.
When you are gardening you get very involved, you become incredibly in tune with your plants and the seasons, and the expectations you place on yourself are not so great. The sense of accomplishment when you bring a plant back to life or watch a seed you planted or a cutting you took take root becomes part of you. It reminds you of your own vitality.