National Gardening Week: 5 Reasons we love gardening
26th Apr 2021
It’s National Gardening Week, organised by the RHS - this huge celebration of gardening is something we wholeheartedly support.
Gardening brings so many benefits and there are a lot of reasons to love it, whatever your space. Here are just a few of the things we love about gardening...
Seriously satisfying
This year, National Gardening Week is celebrating the feel-good power of plants and gardens, highlighting the scientific links between gardening and wellbeing. We couldn’t agree more with this fantastic theme, there really is something so rewarding about growing and the wellbeing benefits are huge. According to our own research, planting seeds is the most satisfying job you can do around the home and garden – it topped our list of the nation’s most satisfying home improvement tasks, beating mowing the lawn and using a pressure washer (though these scored highly too). In fact, 73% of homeowners told us they consider gardening to be a nice way to de-stress and to relax. It’s hard to argue with the mental wellbeing benefits of gardening and growing your own food, just ask any gardener. Whether you’ve got a window box of herbs or allotment, you can’t beat the feeling of seeing your efforts successfully grow into something you can eat and share with friends and family.
Nature is good for us
It’s not just about the satisfaction factor that comes with garden jobs, being in nature is increasingly being shown to be very good for our overall health. Studies have shown that time in nature is an antidote for stress, lowing blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reducing anxiety and improving mood. We found a study by the European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter, particularly fascinating. The research found that people who spent two hours a week in green spaces were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who don’t.
Mental and physical wellbeing
In addition to the therapeutic benefits of gardening, there’s also strong evidence to suggest it’s very good for your physical wellbeing too. Last year we looked at DIY and gardening jobs and found they burn a significant amount of calories, around 80,00 a year. In fact, harvesting home grown fruit and vegetables will result in around 3,118 calories being burnt off per year! Our research found that gardening jobs can be a real workout, with homeowners burning off 6,384 kcals while weeding, 3,466 kcals when pruning and 3,852 kcals while watering the garden over the course of a year. So that’s another reason to get growing!
Healthy eating never tasted so good
Homegrown fruit and veg tastes great and encourages you to get creative with recipes, whether it’s courgette cake, colourful salads and soups or fruit smoothies. Fresh fruit and vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre and growing your own is a great way to motivate children (and adults) to get their five-a-day. For keen green-fingered children, Draper Tools offers a Young Gardener range of hand tools to help them grow their own.
Help pollinators, help the planet
Bees and other insects provide an amazing service by pollinating the plants we grow and it has been widely reported that we all depend on the survival of bees. They make a huge contribution sustainable development, but they face many threats in today’s climate. You can do your bit to help bees and help the planet by growing flowers that are rich in pollen and nectar and planting a variety that will bloom throughout the year. You can find more tips on creating a bee friendly garden here.
What do you love about gardening?
How does gardening make you feel? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Find out more about how to get involved with National Gardening Week on the RHS website. Need some new tools to help you get gardening? You can browse our range here.
