Planning a garden? Here's a step-by-step guide to start off on the right foot : Life Kit

"My backyard used to be a junkyard, a tragic mix of rubble, tires, pipes, chew toys, glass shards. It felt hopeless.

But my perspective changed when I was standing in a long line to get into the grocery store at the beginning of the pandemic, and wondered: Why have I let all this dirt and sunlight and water go to waste?

Planting a garden is "a way to connect to something immediate here and now and watch it grow," says Dr. Rupa Marya, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco's medical school. She is also an avid gardener.

"It's got a lot of great health benefits. People are outside. They're getting sun on their skin, generating vitamin D.""