The Therapeutic Benefits Part 2

You can “kill every plant” and still be exactly the kind of person who benefits from gardening. Nurse Taneesha Roberts  and I get honest about what beginner gardening really looks like: some plants won’t make it, some seeds won’t germinate, and none of that means you failed. We reframe dead plants as feedback about water, light, soil, nutrients, and pot size, so the hobby stops being a judgment and starts becoming a calming practice that supports mental health.

We walk through simple, beginner-friendly steps for gardening for anxiety, depression, stress, and low mood, including practical 10-minute gardening tasks you can do today. Repotting is a standout: create drainage, add soil first, give roots space to breathe, then water well and move on with your day. We also share “quick win” plants that build self-esteem fast, like mint, basil, pothos, snake plants, cherry tomatoes, and even radishes for a fast harvest and a real dopamine boost. Plus, a real warning for new gardeners: mint is tough for a reason, so keep it contained in a pot unless you want it everywhere.

We also cover when gardening is not helpful, especially if allergies, sun sensitivity, pain, or limited mobility make it unsafe. To make it even more doable, we talk timing (zone 7 planting after Mother’s Day), budget options, and how to garden without a yard using five-gallon buckets, balconies, and vertical growing with a trellis.

If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a gentle reset, and leave a review with the plant you’re starting with next.

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Reframe

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Beatrice Hippolyte and this is your world. For someone who's uh uh skeptical and says I kill every plant, I know somebody, oh I know someone. How do you convince them uh it is still worth trying?

SPEAKER_00 0:32

So I think the first thing that has to happen is we have to kind of reframe it. We can't really say that a good healthy plant equals success and a dead plant equals failure. I kill plants all the time. It's part of the it's part of the the the hobby, it's the practicality of gardening. Not every plant is gonna survive, right? So you if you start with that and you let people understand that really the the benefit of the gardening is the interaction that you have with caring for something and nurturing life upon it, right? So that's the benefit of it. And then you want those people to start with something small, something that you know, something like a mint plant. Mint plants are notoriously invasive, right? It's very difficult to kill a mint plant. So you put it in a pot and you just you water it and you do what it has, you know. You there are certain plants that are going to be easier for that person to grow. Another thing is maybe um get like one of those um uh like a starter kit, something that's a starter kit, because there's not that much thought process that has to go into it. It comes with instructions, it comes with the appropriate seed, it comes with the appropriate soil, it comes with all the instructions, and so somebody who is reluctant or fearful that they're not gonna be successful, quote unquote successful, because like I said, plants die all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've had a plant. It just didn't make it. But that's part of the that's part of your ability of being able to accept what it is because it's not always gonna be it come out exactly the way you want it. It may not, it may not be, but that doesn't mean that you've created a failure in that situation. It just means that maybe there was too much water, maybe you know, it's more like feedback. You when when a plant dies before you, what you're receiving from that is more like feedback as opposed to, oh, I'm a horrible failure at growing plants. No, the feedback says you watered it too much, you didn't give it enough water, the pot was too small, the soil didn't have enough nutrients. There's all the different reasons why that plant could not have succeeded, not necessarily because of you as a person. It's just something that you didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

It's basically like a vaccine. When you know, let's say if there was an epidemic and they created a vaccine, they know the cause of that is to heal or help with whatever that is going on,

Start Small With Hardy Plants

SPEAKER_01 3:05

but at the end of the day, so it's like the guarantee that will not cause harm to anybody. Right. You know, so it's like that's what we call the background noise in research.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

That's it, the background noise, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

So, and and you know, while you were talking about that, so it's a hey, there is no guarantee that you're gonna be able to save all plants. Right so it's like you know, hey, you put the work out there, so you wanna, you know, you you want every plant to survive.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yep, and that starts from seed because not every seed is gonna germinate. You may you may have a cell pack of 20 seeds, and you know, maybe nine, you know, 18 of them germinate, and the other and there's two that just don't make it. They just don't make it, and that's just the part of it's just the part of the process of gardening.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Okay, okay. Uh, what plant or gardening tasks uh do you prescribe most often for beginners struggling with anxiety or depression?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

So again, I think you want to start off small, right? If you're starting off small, you want to start with something easy. A kind of win-win plant, maybe a pathos, a snake plant, mint, basil, cherry tomatoes, these are all things that are kind of almost like the set it and forget it. You don't necessarily forget it, but they are very hardy in that they are able to um provide you with a harvest. You're able to get something from that. So if I wanted to have somebody, you know, do something within a 10-minute period of time, maybe what I would have them do is just, you know, put their hole in the soil and pop a seed in, cover it up, give it some water, and walk away. Maybe go outside and pick one or two weeds. You don't have to spend a tremendous amount of time when you're getting started, but as you gain confidence and as you see that you are harvesting stuff, you're able to make peppermint tea from that. I put a piece of peppermint out there, and now I have enough that I can make tea, that gives you the confidence to go out and to dedicate a little bit more time, maybe than 10 minutes the next time. Then maybe you're out there 30 minutes, you know what I mean? And as time goes on, you really gain the confidence in gardening.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Okay, so my next question now if someone, let's say anybody's watching or listening now, uh, is dealing with stress or low mood, or what the 10 minutes garden tasks they can start today.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Um, a 10-minute garden task that you can start today, I would say would be like repotting a plant. Get yourself a small little plant, you know, from the you know, and you can get them from anywhere. Or you can even go into like the Dollar Tree. They have a nice garden section if you're financially challenged, and you can go right into in there, get a little bag of soil, get a couple seeds. All you need to do is put it in a container.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

You say the Dollar Tree?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Yes. You can go into the Dollar Tree. There's a gardening section in the Dollar Tree. There is. Oh. So you can go in and get a container, you can get the soil that you need, you can get um the seeds that you may want. You just have to make sure that there's drainage. So if it's a plastic something that has no holes at the bottom, you need drainage for that soil. So you poke some holes in the bottom of it so that water can easily come out.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Not to kill the plant.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Not to kill the plant. And all you have to do is put the dirt inside, whether you're starting with a seed or a plant. Just get your hands in the soil. Ten minutes of your hands in the soil, just that soil, when I tell you that soil is powerful, in 10 minutes you can glean so much from just um handling it, just manipulating the soil, moving it from one from the bag that it comes into into the pot. From this plant, from this small container into a larger container. And those are things that you can do. It doesn't take a lot of time at all. You go to the store, you get a small plant, you have a larger plant, a larger container, all you gotta do is put soil in, put remove the plant, put it in the other one, 10-15 minutes, that's all it takes. But you've had that interaction.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Also, so when you do it, so it's like when you move one plant from a small content to a larger one, so you have to put soil in the larger one first before you place.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Right, because what you're looking to do is you are looking. I think that's what I probably kill. So maybe. What you're looking to do is you are looking to foster growth in the roots. So if you have a container that's this,

Gardening For Anxiety And Depression

SPEAKER_00 7:45

that's this size, right, and you pull the plant out, and you see the roots are they're just like they got nowhere to go. They got nowhere to go. You want to put them in, they can't breathe. You're strangling them. So, what you want to do is put it in a bigger pot. And you'd put soil down first, and then you'd put your plant in, and then you would pack soil around it. And in some instances, you can even loosen those roots up a little bit, but then you want to give it a nice, good, hearty water.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

So, do you have to use your hands?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Of course, you have to use your hands. Use your hands. This is gardening. We want to use our hands. These fingers are gonna get dirty. That's what it's about. Sometimes I'm elbow deep inside the soil, and that's just what it is, because I'm looking for success in the growth of whatever it is that I'm planting. But you can release the root system, you know, shake it out a little, loosen it up, and then when you water it, those roots come alive and they say, Whoa, look at all this space that I have to grow. And then, as the root system grows, what else did the plant will grow right along with it? And that's a five-minute, ten-minute task. That's a 10-minute task.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

You know what? I'm gonna try today. So, and I encourage everyone of you watching or listening to go and try as well. My next question uh, which plant give the fastest a win for self-esteem? And which teach uh the most patient, if you know, yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

So, for fast stuff, again, we're gonna go with um things like uh mint because they grow fast. You can go with things like radish. If I plant a radish seed today, in 30 days or so, I have radish that I can pull up out of the ground, right? You can go with um what else is it? Grasses. Some of the grasses are really quick growing, and you see them sometimes, they'll start as a little small thing, and the next thing you know, it's this huge big and the the benefit of that is you hear it swaying in the wind. It's such a relaxing, you know, thing to be able to have. But there are a lot of plants, all of those plants that grow easy: the pathos, the basil, the mint, um, the cherry tomatoes, those things, they they're quick. They're quick. When you buy a cherry tomato plant from the store, you get it in some soil, and within a couple weeks you'll see the flowers coming out.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

But the basil in demand, I've noticed like when you plant them, they they take over.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

And that's that's remember, I don't know if you remember, but I said basil and mint are very invasive. So those are plants that I do not necessarily put inside of the garden bed. I like to grow those in a container. And you can do something as simple and put it in a five-gallon bucket. You can take a five-gallon bucket, throw, you know, drill six to eight holes at the bottom of that bucket, maybe put a little gravel down, put your soil in top, put that mint plant or that basil plant, and that plant will flourish, but it will not spread. Because once mint gets out into the open and basil, it will take over everything.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And if somebody

Ten-Minute Tasks And Repotting Basics

SPEAKER_01 10:55

were to experience that, myself, for example. Overwhelm. Overwhelm. I know I know you're not the right person to ask that question, but I'm gonna ask you anyway, how to kill them. Because I know the word killing plants is not something we would like to hear.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

What I'm gonna say is that um when it comes to mint, she's gonna give you a run for her money every single time. She's gonna give you a run for your money. You cannot get rid of her, she's not going anywhere. You can pull up as much as you want and pull up, and then two years down the line, the next year, the next season roll around, and here she comes. Yeah. Because she's rooted in. She's rooted in. That's why it's never a good idea to put mint or basil into the ground. You want to grow those plants inside of a pot where they can be contained. You want to be able to contain them from the beginning. Once you introduce them to the soil, it's like having bamboo. You know, that does, and that's one of the reasons why bamboo is illegal to grow here, is because once it's in, it's in. And it is a mountainous city to get rid of it. Listen, you can maybe maybe pour vinegar, you know, maybe make it alter the pH terribly, you know. I'm sure there's things that you can do, but from my experience, any place where there's mint in the ground, even if you pull it all up, next season that mint is coming to show her face. She's coming back. Yeah. Yeah. She's hardy. And that's that's why that's such a good plant to start with. Because you see, that's how hardy she is. As long as you start it in a pot, you see that she is a resilient plant, and she's gonna keep giving. As long as you're plucking from her, she's gonna keep proliferating. I still win in, but I started in win all in the wrong spot. Mm-hmm. The more you pluck, the more will grow. The more you and that's that's a lot of flowers are like that. Like I was speaking earlier about the calendula flower that I use for my eczema. I bake a salve for the eczema for that. That colendula flower, the more flowers you pluck, the more flowers come. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Yep. Oh, wow. Because they're trying to complete that cycle, they're trying to complete their life cycle. They want to, they need to go to seed. In order for them, so they'll come up as greenery, they'll produce a flower, the flowers will go to seed, the seeds will fall onto the ground. Now the plant has permission to die for the season because I've already left my seeds here, right? So that you've given the plant permission. But if you keep cutting off all the flowers and never let it go to seed, it's just gonna keep producing flowers until you allow it to go to seed.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Oh wow. Amazing, amazing, amazing. So I don't know. I'm learning a lot. I don't know about you washing or listening, but I'm learning a lot. My next question: what are the three biggest mistakes beginners make that cause frustration instead of therapy?

SPEAKER_00 14:06

I would say picking up picking the wrong plant. Like I did. If you're a beginning gardener, you don't want to be trying to grow orchids. Orchids are finicky. You don't need any fiddly fig, you don't need any indoor lavender, because those plants tend to be difficult to maintain, even for the more seasoned gardener. You want to pick something that is also um fast growing because it's an immediate gratification. It's that immediate dopamine that says, Oh wow, look, I grew a mint plant and I can make tea from this plant. And then lastly, you don't want to overdo, you don't want to over-water, you don't want to over-fertilize, you don't want to do the things that's gonna cause more harm, then they are gonna be good. So if you are a beginner gardener and you want to start to grow something, you want to pick a plant that is easy and you want to look and see what that plant needs. How often should I be watering this plant? What kind of things are going to um help nourish this plant? Does this plant take a lot of nitrogen? Does this plant take a lot of phosphorus? What is it that this plant needs to thrive?

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Okay, but uh you know, there are some saying, you know, out there, you know, where people can, you know, normally say, I'm too depressed to even start. How do you help people overcome the activation energy to begin with?

SPEAKER_00 15:47

So the idea of a garden, it sounds so grandiose. There's so much involved. Plant a seed. Plant one seed, get one little cell pack, plant one seed. It's short, it doesn't take a lot of time, but one task at a time, one 10-minute task, and that can get you started because once you start seeing the progress that you've made, it allows you the confidence to be able to go on further. And again, we like I said, we talked about like the starter kits. Like sometimes they have those like cactus starter kits, and it comes with the sand and the rocks and the whatever the case is, right? It's something that's all you don't have to think about it. There's no thought process that comes with that. The package comes with the instruction, that's a great way to get started, and it's without having to invest so much because when you're depressed, you want to see something that's low maintenance, you don't want to have a high maintenance something because that just adds to the weight that's already on your shoulders that's causing the depression in the first place. You want to have quick, simple things, have a little cell pack, put the plant, put the seed in the dirt, water it, walk away for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Very important and uh to know. Um, my next question: When is gardening not helpful? Are there people or conditions where it called backfire?

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, sometimes people have tremendous allergic reactions to whatever it is outside. Sometimes people are sensitive to the sun. Sometimes people don't have the physical mobility or the dexterity in their hands to be able to do some of the tasks. You know, any anytime that something causes you pain or causes you to suffer some kind of infirmary, probably not a good idea. Probably pick another hobby. Yeah, cooking, right? You know, whatever that's something, something that's not gonna cause you to be sick because you don't want to be participating in something that's to your detriment. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Because the whole idea is like to keep you joyful, yes, healthy, uplifting, uplifting, yeah, but not to cause any.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

That's it. That's it. Share your nurturing spirit with the plants. That's a wonderful thing to be able to do. But if you can't physically get it done, then it becomes more of a hindrance than a help.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I know you are in the medical field, and my next question will be you know, is like should doctors, nurses, or any provider who's qualified to prescribe medication, should

Fast Wins Plus Containing Mint

SPEAKER_01 18:35

uh uh they prescribe uh uh providing prescription to garden alongside, you know, like uh meds therapy or any any any other health system uh uh doing doing this if you if you know about it?

SPEAKER_00 18:53

That it couldn't hurt. It couldn't hurt. Whatever it is, whether whether you are in a CBT book and you're taking regular therapy sessions or you have, you know, uh whatever the case may be, whether you're suffering dementia, gardening, it's it can't hurt you. It's not gonna hurt you. And at the end of the day, not only will it not hurt you, but it will give you confidence because when it's time to harvest, you have something that you can take from that, and it's something that you have created, and the ability to be able to create something that in itself is a confidence booster like no other. That in itself is really gonna allow you to thrive and maybe overcome some of the symptomatology of whatever your mental health illness is.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

I knew a young lady who knows who will do gardening every year, just for the sake of sharing. Yeah, because it's beautiful, all those sweet bell papers, you know, uh uh um uh cucumber and tomatoes. So oh, she likes to make trays for everybody, even if it is one tomato, but you know what? So it's it was you know, and you're so happy to receive it because it's giving to you, you know, yeah, you know, out of love. So, and I encourage people who can get involved into that uh to just go ahead and do so. It's a wonderful experience. My next question in 10 years, what do you hope we understand about plants and mental health that we don't fully grasp uh uh now?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

I feel like we've kind of been speaking on that this whole time, you know. Really, I think that people in general look at gardening as a task. If they don't think that they can be successful at gardening, I don't think that people look at it as something that can foster improvement in their mental health. They look at it as chores. Oh, I gotta go pull the weeds, oh I gotta go water the vegetables, oh I gotta, they don't see it as something that is helpful to them, they just see it as more tasks that need to be completed. Oh that's what I think. I I I feel like that's how most people are like, you know, you hear some, oh my goodness, I gotta go outside and water these plants, I gotta so hot. It's they have so many complaints about the tasks and are not framing it in a way that's gonna be beneficial to them. They're framing it in a way of something that, you know, is a detriment, something that is a chore, something that's gonna be a challenge. But really, I in 10 years from now, I would want people to reframe the way they think about gardening and not necessarily think of it so much task oriented as it is the opportunity to foster and nurture life in a being that is not of yourself. Well said.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Oh, my next so on before the last one. One what one myth about gardening for mental health, you want to pull out by the woods uh that it's all just work. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

You know, I I feel like, like I said in the previous question, I think that people just associate gardening with work and whether it's going to be a fail or whether it's going to be a success. And I just want to scoop that right away because what I want people to understand is that it's gardening is a give and take. You're putting your energy and your effort into these plants, and they are providing you with fruits, they're providing you with abundance, and so the myth that it's just work for naught, it's a it's a horrible way to think about gardening. So I would I would want to pull that out by the root and toss it into the maybe the

Beginner Mistakes And Low Energy Starts

SPEAKER_00 22:55

compost bin or something.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Okay, so my last question if you call design the perfect healing garden for mental health, what three elements must it have?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I feel like what we a guard all gardens need to be able to tease your senses a little bit. The smells, the sights of the flowers, the sounds of the grasses going back and forth, maybe the way a plant feels like a lamb's ear, it feels soft and and cozy. So I would say I would start with that sensory. Then I would say things that can, like perennial plants, things that are gonna come back every year, regardless of what it is, whether you nurture them or whether you don't nurture them, they're gonna come back, whether they're pruned or unpruned or whatever the case, because what that gives us mint, right? Like mint or or or the magnolia tree or the lilac shrub or the peony bush. Those are all flowers. Oh, they're all those are all perennial plants. They're all perennials, and the season ends, and then the new season begins and they come, and that's without having to do much of anything. So it allows you to see that cycle that we talked about before. Something it's green, then it flowers, then it seeds, then it dies, and then in the next season it's back again. So let's see, sensory plants that come back without having to do too much terrible work. And for a third thing that I think would be really beneficial for anyone starting a garden would be plants that you can harvest from quickly. So, like the radishes, the cucumbers, all of those things that give you a lot of abundance in a short period of time, because again, we want to build that confidence. We want to be able to harvest as much as we can and as short a period as we can because it's that dopamine hit that comes with, that dopamine hit that comes with, wow, I planted this seed, and now here I am, you know, several weeks later, and there's radish, there's you know, whatever it is that you decided to plant. I think those are the three things that are a must in every new beginner garden, and when you're getting started, those are things that the things that are gonna attract you the senses, the things that are gonna come back year after year, and lastly, um the things that are quick grow.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Okay, okay. Thank you, thank you so much. And I believe this is the end of our show. Thank you. I don't believe that I have enough words to thank you because I know it was not easy. You have you have a busy life. I do, you know, and uh for you to be able to take time off your busy schedule to be with us, to be with me, my audience, you know, and those who are listening. I said those who are listening because the podcast is being heard and about on about like 12 different platforms, you know, like uh Amazon, Apple Music. So these people they just can listen to, but they'll not be able to be able to watch and see your beautiful face. Oh my goodness. So it's uh you know, it's uh it was like uh you know a great privilege to have you today and um and learn about so many things that I didn't know about plants. I know I love plants sometimes, some of them I love them from a distance, some of them I kill so many times, and I'll buy the same thing again and again. But you know, so it was something, you know, it was

When Gardening Backfires And Alternatives

SPEAKER_01 26:55

a great moment for me to learn about plants, to know about the benefits, not only the mental health benefits, but the cognitive and the physical benefits. So, you know, myself I've learned a lot, and I hope that uh everyone of you, you know, watching or listening have also learned. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. And kudos to my sister again, so who who it also basically pushed for that. My sister basically booked you because it's like we were talking, and it's like you know what? I know uh nurse uh Tanisha Warburg is like the best guest for your podcast. You have to have her on the show. And by the time you know we were done with our conversation, she shared your information. And I went when I contacted you, so it was like, whoa, you know, I'm in it.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Like a whirlwind.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Listen, I want to thank you for having me here, for allowing me to be able to come and share some of the knowledge that I have. I would genuinely want people to get into gardening because it does offer a tremendous benefit, and you can really just start small. You can get a small little plant or a small little seed, small little bit of dirt, give yourself 10 minutes just to get things started, and as the growth process happens, you really allow yourself to get the confidence, and it's a tremendous booster for anyone suffering from any of the mental ailments that we talked about previously. I appreciate you having me here.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

I know, you know, I said the last question was the last, but when you mentioned that some, I think the last question does just came in. Okay. So what is the best time? So this is uh, you know, summer is coming. We are this is the month of May. So for if if I were to to start, can I start now or I have to wait for June?

SPEAKER_00 28:50

So we are here in um zone seven, right?

Healing Garden Elements And Practical Setup

SPEAKER_00 28:55

And the rule of thumb for where we are is after Mother's Day. Oh after Mother's Day is like the rule of thumb for planting plants outside, which is why I sometimes get frustrated when you go to the big box stores and you see they have all these plants out, you know, in April, they're not gonna survive during that time because they're gonna have the cold snaps and those plants are gonna die and you have to go and repurchase. But this after May, generally in zone seven where we live, that is a good time to start, unless you're putting stuff in a greenhouse where it can be protected from the elements. Because just last week there was a day it went down to like 30 something degrees, and if you had anything outside, you lost it because it froze.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Can I do gardening? You know, if I don't have a big yard, is it important for people to have a big yard to do gardening?

SPEAKER_00 29:47

It's not important at all. You can garden, like I said, in a five-gallon pot. You can put a whole squash plant in a five-gallon pot. You can grow potatoes in a five-gallon bucket. You in and any of those Home Depot five, well, you don't you want to use a food grade um five-gallon bucket, but as long as you drill holes and you allow for drainage, you can do potatoes in pots, you can do the mint in pots, you can do squash, you can do cabbage, you can do all different kinds of things for tea, you could do chamomile and and um you could do calendula flowers, you could do lemon balm, you could do, there's so many different things that you could just put into a pot. So if all you have is a small terrace or a small balcony, you can really plant quite a few things. And what's even better is some of the viny things, if you put it up against the wall, if you take that five-gallon pot and you put it up against the wall with something for chetrellis on, there's a spot for your cucumbers, there's a spot for your green beans, there's a spot for any of the mini melons, the little cantaloupes or the little honeydews. You can grow upward, and and that's I think um a really good benefit when you when you have a small space. When you have a small space, you want to try and grow things that are gonna grow up vertically as opposed to spread out all over big spots. But the amount of soil that is in a five-gallon bucket, oh, there's so many things you can do.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Okay, so of that said, no more questions. Let's put an end to this. So, once again, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. And I'm pretty sure today is your first time, but it won't be the last. Because as a nurse, there are other subjects that we will be able to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yes, there are, yes, there are.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I appreciate you having me. Okay, so of that said, I'll let you go. It was with you, Dr. Beatrice Hippolyte, with your world. See you next time.