Ditch those fitness apps on your phone; throw away the gadgets that monitor your daily activities... and pick up a garden fork instead!

For it seems that gardeners have always possessed the secret to a longer, healthier life. 

The 92-year-old featured in this week’s Courant is one of six gardeners in their 90s who are opening their green spaces to raise money for the National Gardens Scheme, which supports nursing and caring charities throughout the UK.

They are living proof of the physical and mental benefits gardening can bring.

Even planting up a few pots on a windowsill and visiting some of the open gardens highlighted in today’s paper could do the trick. 

Gardening may not be the flame of eternal youth, but maybe it’s the next best thing.