As National Gardening Week focuses on how to Get Fit In The Garden, Hannah Stephenson talks to top garden designer Bunny Guinness about how to burn calories and stay healthy through horticulture

WHILE so many of us pound away in the gym in our efforts to keep fit, burn calories and lose a few pounds, remember there is a great outdoor arena in your garden which can help you do just that.

Someone weighing around nine stone will burn 150 calories in half an hour of digging, while non-motorised mowing typically burns around 165 calories per 30 minutes, according to research from Harvard Medical School.

Raking the lawn for 30 minutes burns around 120 calories – the same as the calories burned in a half hour of Tai Chi, volleyball and even horseback riding – while half an hour of splitting wood burns the same amount of calories as half an hour of vigorous weight-lifting, research suggests.

Try squatting when you’re weeding or planting and you’ll use a mass of muscles in the process. Stand on one leg while pruning, digging or clipping, which will stretch you and increase suppleness. Don’t always get out the ladder. Instead, get on your toes on one leg if possible and stretch to reach.

Bunny Guinness, award-winning garden designer and co-author of the book Garden Your Way To Health And Fitness, will be supporting National Gardening Week this year.

She says: “The wonderful thing about gardening is that, unlike repetitive exercises at the gym, it can provide all over-body fitness – raking, weeding, digging and other gardening tasks all use different muscles and test your body in different ways.”

Guinness, who was diagnosed with a slipped disc aged 11, but has worked on her core over the years with the help of foam rollers and back-strengthening exercise, continues: “People don’t realise how many calories exercise in the garden uses up.

“If I went to a gym and did a good workout – 20 minutes on a rowing machine, 20 minutes on a running machine and 20 minutes on a cross trainer – or spent three hours in the garden mowing the lawn, weeding and pruning, I’d use up the same amount of calories.”

Warm-ups are important, especially if you’ve been a couch potato over the winter months, she stresses.

“It’s best to limit your activity on one thing, so rotate your garden jobs – don’t spend hours digging a border all at once – and, most importantly, stretch, which makes a huge difference to me. If I don’t stretch at the end of the day when I’m warm, I really stiffen up afterwards.”

People with a small garden who are going to find it hard to do enough aerobic exercise can use up energy doing step-ups on their existing steps or a wooden bench, she suggests.

“You are not going to be carting wheelbarrows for miles, so it’s good to mix it up with other things. You can do bench presses and other exercises on a simple garden bench. Some people have monkey bars for upper body exercise.

“If you are raking – which is like a lunge – try to use your other side. We tend to use just one side of our bodies, but you will get used to using the other side too.”

Classic back problems associated with gardening can be avoided if you make your core muscles as strong as they can be, she says.

“When you are lifting a heavy pot, squat down and use your core muscles to lift it up, pulling it close to your tummy and then stand. You really don’t want to be twisting and having the weight out from your body. Foam rollers are brilliant to help you realise where your core muscles are.”

If you want to be super fit, combine gardening with a more traditional work-out and avoid shortcuts like ride-on lawnmowers, leaf-blowers and other tools which avoid having to pick things off the ground.

The four RHS Gardens will be leading The campaign which runs from April 11-17., with other gardens across the UK encouraged to take part. For more information, Visit www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT: SOWING CUCUMBERS UNDER GLASS

Darlington and Stockton Times:

ALTHOUGH you can buy cucumbers all year round, the feeling of achievement you get when you grow your own makes it worth having a go and you only need a couple of plants to give you a constant supply in summer.

They’re delicious in salads or added to sauces with fish or in salsas and other dips. 

Cucumbers do take up a lot of room in the greenhouse, so bear that in mind when sowing. Sow singly in 8cm (3in) pots in a heated propagator in early spring for growing in a heated greenhouse, or later in spring if your greenhouse is unheated. 

Pot them on to larger pots to allow them to establish further before planting them in the soil borders of your greenhouse in June, in 30cm pots or two to a growing bag.

Keep them out of draughts and water well, especially when cropping, but don’t allow the soil to become waterlogged.

Bamboo canes will be needed to support them and you should remove sideshoots from the bottom 60cm of the plant, allowing higher ones to develop. 

When the tiny cucumbers appear, nip out the end of the shoot one or two leaves beyond the fruit. Keep the main stems tied and under control as they grow quickly. Good varieties include ‘Burpless’ and ‘Birgit’.

BEST OF THE BUNCH: MAGNOLIA

Darlington and Stockton Times:

THESE glorious flowering trees and shrubs whose blooms range from goblet-sized deep red purples to starry whites can be used effectively as stand-alone specimens and in borders, depending on the type you choose.

Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’, for instance, is an ideal compact tree which could make a focal point in a small garden, bearing goblet-shaped deep red-pink flowers in late spring.

Magnolia stellata, the star magnolia, is the smallest spring-flowering type and one of the most popular, named for its white star-shaped blooms. M. x soulangeana produces tulip-shaped blush white flowers, flushed purple-pink at the base.

The evergreen magnolia M. grandiflora grows to 3m x 1.8m, producing large creamy white lemon-scented flowers in summer.

Magnolias prefer neutral to acid soil and the deciduous varieties love clay. The deciduous types flower in spring, so frost can damage their blooms, and the smaller-flowered types are more weather resistant.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

  • Continue to deadhead daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs
  • Pinch out the tips of sweet peas, which will result in more branching and blooms later on
  • Keep recently planted trees, shrubs and climbers well watered in dry weather
  • Start to prune out frost-damaged shoots and stems of shrubs
  • Give lavenders a quick trim to help keep them neat and compact
  • Plant the last of the summer-flowering bulbs including gladioli, lilies, schizostylis and crocosmia for a fabulous display later this year
  • Lay new turf as needed and keep it well watered in dry weather
  • Protect new potato crops from frost by mounding up soil over the row as soon as any growth appears
  • Clear out last year’s water from your water feature, scrub down the surfaces and remove algae and debris before refilling with fresh water
  • Remove overgrown pond plants, divide them and then replant