Benefits of Community Gardens (01-04-10)

A recently published study from Australia reports that community gardening has psychological benefits as well as physical ones (exercise and healthy food).  Kingsley and his colleagues learned that gardeners they spoke with in Australia feel their community garden “to be a sanctuary where people could come together and escape daily pressures, a source of advice and social support, and a place which gave them a sense of worth and involvement.  Members [gardeners] also identified spiritual . . . benefits arising from participation in the community garden.”  Researchers defined a community garden as “a plot of land allocated to individuals to create gardens of their choice in a communal environment.”

Jonathan Kingsley, Mardie Townsend, and Claire Henderson-Wilson.  2009.  “Cultivating Health and Wellbeing:  Members’ Perceptions of the Heath Benefits of a Port Melbourne Community Garden.”  Leisure Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 207-219.