Which type of garden is best for your mental health?
Whether it's pottering around in your own garden, visiting a public one or spending time on the allotment, we are all well aware that gardens help us to relax and unwind. But which type of garden has the most positive effect on our mental health? Does the size, shape, contents and colour make much of a difference?
As part of the latest gardening wellbeing project, a team of researchers from the University of Sheffield - in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society - are aiming to collect evidence to reveal whether smaller, private gardens are better for reducing feelings of stress, anxiety and depression than big, green spaces.
The team will look at private gardens in detail and compare the benefits of having a front garden filled with plants to the benefits of having a concrete or paved space.
To do so, the researchers are calling for gardeners and non-gardeners alike to complete a surveyas part of the study.
"There's increasing evidence that access to green space in nature can provide a range of benefits in mental health, physical health and social cohesion," Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui, a PhD student at the University of Sheffield, told the BBC.
"But most of that evidence is centred around public green spaces rather than private gardens. That's the gap in knowledge - the contributions private gardens make to the health and wellbeing agenda."
Through their findings, the team hope to be able to advise health and planning policy and bolster a case for more green spaces and gardens to be installed in urban areas to boost mental health on a wide scale.
For more home interior inspiration, expert gardening advice and countryside news, sign up to our weekly newsletter below...
You Might Also Like
