National Gardening Week 2021 is taking place between Monday 26th April and Sunday 2nd May 2021 and is a celebration of gardening aimed to raise awareness of the difference garden and gardening can make to the lives of everyone in the UK.

Recent research has shown that gardening more frequently may be linked to improvements in well being, perceived stress and physical activity. The study conducted by the RHS in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and the University of Virginia indicated that people who garden every day have wellbeing scores 6.6% higher and stress levels 4.2 lower than those who do not garden at all.

According to the paper gardening at least 2 to 3 times a week maximised the benefits.

Their research aimed to address four specific questions:

  1. What were the personal reasons given by people for gardening?
  2. Is gardening linked with improved health outcomes; and does increased gardening frequency correspond to greater health benefits (i.e. self-reported well-being, reduced stress, more physical activity)?
  3. To what extent do neighbourhood factors also influence health and well-being benefits?
  4. Are there certain factors that influence an individual's satisfaction with their garden? Specifically, they were interested in how the proportion of green space (vegetated area) might affect satisfaction levels?

If you'd like to read the paper in full it can be found here.

Geoff's already been topping up his wellbeing levels in our garden this week by planting away and laying down some Strulch around our beds.