I believe that one of the healthiest hobbies available is to manage a garden and grow some foodplants. Not only does this help cut your carbon footprint by reducing food miles but being in direct contact with nature is a great antidote for the stresses of the office and client meetings.
Fresh produce is tastier and contains more vitamins, and gardening organically is good for biodiversity.
To get the best out of your plot, whether it be an acre or a backyard, do a bit of research first. The aspect of your growing area is important: a south-facing slope is best for avoiding frost pockets which may reduce tender veg to mush, so grow hardy perennials if yours is north-facing. Find out what your neighbours grow.
All soil, especially sands and heavy clays, benefits from the addition of home-made compost. If you have no soil, grow in containers, in which case a water butt is especially useful.
Easiest to grow are top fruit crops, such as blackberries, raspberries and currants, and trees like apple, pear and plum. Once in the ground, these need minimal management, perhaps just an annual pruning and some physical support.
Then there's annuals such as potatoes, climbing beans, courgettes, salads and herbs. Needing slightly greener fingers are crops like asparagus, sweetcorn and brassicas.
I particularly like perennials and self-seeders such as fennel, landcress, leaf beet and nasturtium (all salad leaves) and food for free, such as ground elder and nettles, and not forgetting a dozen types of easily recognisable mushroom.
Gardens are a valuable haven for wildlife as our countryside is dominated by field upon field of crops sprayed with pesticides and weedkillers.
So if there is space, have a pond and an untidy area with piles of dead wood for invertebrates. Grow nectar-rich flowers and plenty of native species. Bird and bat boxes, a bird bath and feeders all give our wildlife a bit of help.
Gardening for food, health and wildlife is now the UK's favourite hobby, and it's still not too late in the year to start.
➔ National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners www.nsalg.org.uk