The study tracked 370 Minneapolis-St. The emotional well-being of Paul residents through joint activities such as hiking, bus travel, shopping and eating out (Yes, this research was done in the past.) Researchers found that a third of people at home garden an average of 90 minutes a week. That was news!
“It’s hard to know who’s gardening at home,” says lead author Graham Ambrose, a research specialist at Princeton University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Much more people work in the garden than we think.”
And how happy you are. Gardeners report a high degree of happiness in the top third of all activities. Gardeners also report a high level of informative value, especially for the vegetable garden! (Ornamental gardening, less.) Low-income gardeners, who are often busy, reported really high levels of emotional well-being! And solo gardeners were just as happy as those with friends!
“These results suggest that we should pay just as much attention to household gardening when choosing future welfare projects to fund,” says Ambrose, who suggests that home gardening contributes to liveable cities and quality food initiatives. Why spend money on a recreation center when some dirt and a trowel will do the trick? Plants on.
