People need more private gardens, British researchers declare after they analysed data from nearly 8,000 people about gardening, health and wellbeing.
The large-scale study was conducted by the University of Exeter and the Royal Horticultural Society. All data were collected by Natural England, part of the UK government, between 2009 and 2016. The results have been published in Landscape and Urban Planning.
Better public health
The research found that people who spend time in the garden, are significantly more likely to report general good health, higher psychological wellbeing and greater physical activity levels than people who don’t spend time in the garden. It doesn’t matter whether people are rich or poor, but private gardens contribute to a better public health. Therefore more gardens need to be planned and constructed, according to the researchers.
The benefits of gardening to health and wellbeing are investigated before, but most research has focused on public green spaces such as parks and playing fields.
Photo by RHS
