Bicton College Gardening
Garden therapy
We are the horticulture volunteers at Bicton College.
In our increasing busy lives, more and more people are turning to gardening as a way to take time out and recharge. The benefits from gardening as a way of helping with mental health, or ‘green therapy’ as it is coming to be known, are many, such as:
- keeping busy eg. weeding, tending to plants
- social contact through tending the garden with other people, such as planting bulbs with your kids, partner or friends
- inhaling the scent of the flowers
- satisfaction from growing fruit and veg
- mindfulness from concentrating on gardening activities
- increased physical fitness from the exericise of tending a garden
- looking at and being in green spaces
Bicton College Gardening is in the process of working with local GP surgeries to provide gardening therapy in the Walled Garden here at Bicton. If you are interested in spending time in the garden at Bicton, to do some gardening and take time out, please do get in contact.
Organisations such as the Royal Horticultural Society are now recognising the benefits of gardening on our mental health, for example, with the creation of their newest garden, RHS Garden Bridgewater, in Manchester, due to open in 2020, being a ‘Wellbeing Garden ‘.
Recent articles about gardening and mental health
Useful links
