Mental health benefits of gardening

[Rajun Gardener]

“As many people already knew and others discovered during the pandemic, plant-related hobbies like gardening offer an opportunity to enjoy nature and give a person a more positive outlook on life,” said Charles Hall, Ph.D., professor and Ellison Chair in International Floriculture in the Department of Horticultural Sciences of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bryan-College Station.

Experts say working with plants offers a host of psychological and social benefits.

Research by Hall, presented in an article published in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture, outlines the numerous psychological benefits of plants and the activity of gardening in a variety of categories. These benefits include:

Anxiety and stress reduction.
Attention deficit recovery.
Decreased depression.
Enhanced memory retention.
Improved happiness and life satisfaction.
Mitigation of PTSD.
Increased creativity, productivity and attention.
Reduced effects of dementia.
Enhanced self-esteem.

“When young gardeners have the experience of planting and caring for something from seed to harvest, they get a sense of accomplishment, pride and ownership. It’s a real esteem-builder for them.”

— Randy Seagraves, Junior Master Gardener Program

https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2022/04/ ... al-health/

[Paulf]

All that stuff may be true but it gets me off the easy chair and out of the house and into the fresh air. If I feel rage at something I can whack away at weeds, if I feel lonely I can go talk to my tomatoes encouraging them to grow and produce, if I feel sick I can go to the back side of the garden and throw up and nothing questions what the problem is.

Sometimes the work is a bit much so I just ignore the garden, other times I just sit back...yes I have a nice, comfortable chair in the garden...and enjoy the solitude of me and my plants. When I feel like talking, I talk. When I feel like yelling, I yell. Ain't gardening grand?

[pondgardener]

When I was working, and had an especially hard day at the lab, I would come home and take a walk around the garden and sit by the ponds and destress. And the same goes for my retired life, with the exception of when I see the damage that the house sparrows have done to my beans, peas and lettuce. That really raises my anxiety level!

[bower]

Yeah, I did my time chasing rabbits around the yard, but eventually realized that's not what the garden is about.
I don't have the ref handy, but there are organisms in healthy dirt that are really beneficial to mental health. I am gardening all winter with a little down time, but I always feel the big drop of anxiety level when it's potting up time and I get dirty. Love it!!
Not even to mention that soil microbes give off some nitrous oxide... isn't that laughing gas? I mean, come on folks. This is a gas!

[claire838]

That’s honestly one of the reasons I stuck with gardening for so long since it really helped me manage my stress and feel more grounded. But for deeper issues like chronic anxiety and focus problems, I ended up needing something stronger alongside it.

I’ve been on a cannabis prescription here in the UK for a while now, and pairing it with gardening has actually made both more effective. The prescription helps calm my mind enough to really enjoy the process

[Danny]

Probably many things about gardening and gardens can and do affect us on many levels. Fresh air, the sounds/smells, caring for plants and seeing the results all can affect our emotional and mental well being. I often enjoy a sort of mindlessness when working with my garden, letting problems and stresses drift off from center stage in my thoughts. A sense of peace is often the major emotion I feel in the garden, especially when things are going well there, I can let go of the havoc and business of things and get a respite from it all. Sitting in my garden, watching blooms sway in the breeze, maybe being amused by the social antics of the grackles, hearing water trickling along or smelling the scent of good dirt - for me, things that ease the tensions of daily life. If I am really lucky, I get to share plant information and gardening stuff with others, passing along some traditions of life to another group of people.

AND I get to eat lots of lovely things !!

Also, a garden can be a terrific excuse in life to avoid some things, with a simple "Sorry, I really have this or that that has to be done.", allowing a graceful and soft way to dodge out of your second cousin's fifteenth tupperware party or such.