mental health . For example , two studies showed that dietary changes can be an effective treatment for depression .
Studies in this area tend to find benefits of the " Mediterranean " ( and similar ) diet , which emphasises consuming minimally processed whole foods — exactly the types of food that your garden will yield . Plus there ' s the added benefit of knowing you played a role in growing the food .
How to Get Started
Ready to start a garden of your own ? Here are six quick tips that Lamp ' l recommends for beginners .
1 . Just start . Decide that you ’ re going to get started , even though you don ' t know how it ' s going to go or even exactly what you ' re doing . " Try it , and so what if you fail ?" asked Lamp ' l . " The worst that will happen is you ' ll learn something . And that ' s worth the price of a plant , every time ."
2 . Start slow . Lamp ‘ lnoted that it ' s easy to get excited when starting out and plant too much , which ends up being hard to keep up with . As a result , you could end up feeling overwhelmed and discouraged . So get started , but don ' t overdo it . You can always add to your garden over time . A simple first step is to grow something in a container that you can put close to your house , so it ' s easy to take care of and enjoy seeing every day .
3 . Focus on heal thy soil . Successful gardening starts literally from the ground up , according to Lamp ' l . " Soil is life . When you focus on that , good things happen ." He strongly advises gardeners to avoid synthetic chemicals and " start feeding the soil with organic material ." That can include compost , the " single best thing you can add to the soil because there ' s so much in it ," and anything else that nature provides , like shredded leaves , shredded bark , or aged manure .
4 . Grow what you like . Choose fruits and vegetables to grow based on " what you want to eat or what you like looking at ," advised Lamp ' l . " Grow something that ' s easy and that grows quickly , like a radish or lettuce ." The ease and quick reward will be motivation to stick with it .