Gardening is a therapy for Dana Al-Shehabi

Manama : Every year, April 22 is celebrated as the ‘World Mother Earth Day’, and it was first celebrated in 1970 in United States. The mission was to broaden and circulate it as an effective way to build healthy and sustainable environment. 

It also addresses the climate change and aims to protect the Earth for future generations. This year – the theme is “Planting Trees”.  Looking forward to the 50th anniversary, the goal is already set to plant 7.8 billion trees over the next five years. 

Mobile phones, iPod, and tablets have already become an inevitable tool for our modern lives. But it was not that long ago when a shovel or a hedge trimmer gave us satisfaction. 

For Dana Al-Shehabi, gardening is a part of her life. On the World Mother Earth Day, DT News spoke to Al-Shehabi who works as a Commercial Manager in a private company. 

Al-Shehabi loves gardening, and encourages others to do the same.   She enjoys cutting the lawn and working in garden whenever she gets time. She believes that gardening is a therapy for her. 

“When I moved to this home, I never had a plan for a garden. But, later on, I thought of covering the swimming pool with mud and to change it into a small garden. I went on researching about ‘small-garden techniques’ and tried implementing that to my garden,” the mother of three told DT News.

“We have a good view of our garden from our dining room.  We enjoy the beauty of our garden while we dine,” she added. 

She believes that as human beings, everyone should be close to Mother Earth. Her garden is small, yet attractive. The garden has plants such as petunia, nasturtium, geraniums and various kinds of cacti. The garden also has a lawn, where her kids enjoy spending time on. 

Al-Shehabi joined the Bahrain Garden Club two years ago and shares her gratitude to the members of the club. 

“They encourage budding gardening hobbyists like me. We have sessions where the members spend time discussing about newer techniques and methods to bring the best out of a garden,” she added. 

For people with a competitive élan, gardening is a favourable way to display their skills. Garden clubs regularly have the best flowers grown by local gardeners. Every year Bahrain Garden Club organises competitions, and for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016), Al-Shehabi won first place for the category, “Small Gardens.”

Speaking about the importance of Mother Earth Day, and planting trees, she said, “We should start encouraging youngsters and motivate them to plant trees. We should also give them an opportunity to start gardening as a hobby, and let them take time to do that. I would say that, there should be nurseries where we can buy seeds and plants at a discounted rate.”

People should encourage themselves and have to find a reason to become a gardener. Forget about the excuse of not having time.  Gardening takes less time than that of a television episode and as a matter of fact, it is much easier than getting a video game work on your computer.