Gardening to Reduce Stress
Part of my role as a garden consultant is to ask potential clients why they’d like to start a garden. I get a variety of responses but most people these days mention self-reliance, independence from corporate food culture, or healthy living as a reason. These are all reasons why I started my own kitchen garden as well, especially during a time of uncertainty when the COVID-19 pandemic began and the food situation was a bit unknown and uncertain for many. What I did not anticipate was the real-time benefit on my stress and anxiety levels. Gardening has become real plant medicine for me and is just as important as any other health routine.
After spending five long days away from my garden (and family) this week, I thought I might revisit some of this research. It is amazing just how much green spaces or concrete spaces can impact our nervous systems and feelings of well-being.
According to the aforementioned study done in the Twin Cities region, published in 2020, gardening was consistently among the top five activities associated with high emotional well-being from gardening.
Green spaces have been shown to be beneficial for reduced stress vs. paved spaces. Nakamura, R., & Fujii, E. (1990).
Gardens can provide a sensory experience through taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight that makes us feel better
Tending a vegetable garden gets us outside more, boosting our exposure to fresh air, vitamin D from the sun, and moderate exercise.
Gardens can be a place of refuge or sanctuary. Leslie Bennett, of Pine Edible Gardens, has the Black Sanctuary Gardens project in Northern California, where she creates garden spaces for “Black women to rest and be restored”.
Gardening teaches us so many lessons. The best lesson it has taught me that carries itself forward in the rest of my life is learning to deal with failure and acceptance. Even with the best intentions, tools, training, and enthusiasm, plants can die, pests happen, and every day is another set of challenges.
I can personally attest that there is something unique about growing food that I have found especially beneficial to my own sense of well-being and to my personal levels of joy.
By persevering daily through a variety of challenges in the garden, I have found it becomes routine to accept the challenge and move forward without feeling defeated. Although at first it may be more difficult. This type of resilience lesson strengthens our resolve and helps us be flexible problem-solvers.
Gardening also provides a space for mindfulness, a practice that benefits our nervous systems and well-being. I have found gardening to be a meditative pursuit; I can lose myself in the garden, looking at bees and other insects, or just sitting among the plants enjoying the sounds of buzzing bees, and the smell of herbs in the cool morning.
Whatever your reason for starting a kitchen garden, you can be assured, the benefits outweigh the initial work. Growing our own food can mean more independence from the corporate food system, healthier food choices for our families and ourselves, and gardening itself can be healing to our body, mind, and spirit.
