Does gardening help lower blood pressure?

I love when I walk in our yard.  I follow a specific route through the arbor covered with sweet potato vines, past the pepper plants and cilantro, and then along the walkway that is flanked by a profusion of tomato plants.  I smell the plants and marvel at their growth in this triple digit desert heat.  I admire the beauty of their leaves and I seem to catch their quiet confidence and trust in the energy of the earth. I feel calmer.

I have noticed lately that all visitors to our demonstration project, especially those who are in the more mature age brackets, are similarly affected.  They remark on how secluded the yard is getting, and how much easier it is to linger and appreciate the shaded calm of all the growth in it.  We are continually working on improving the sense of defensible space around the site by placing a variety of fence panels along more of its boundaries.  I think this intensifies the perception our visitors have of nature at work.

Of course there is bountiful research showing that gardens are helpful for improving longevity.  I recently came across a study done in Uppsala in Sweden in the 1990’s which demonstrated the health giving benefits of being involved in the creation of a landscape.  Studies since then are resoundingly clear that gardening improved the quality of life experience of seniors and thus improved their health. (more)

Having a yard space that is private provides a private oasis of tranquility, safety, and personal healing and our visitors are responding more to it. Gene Gach, an 81 year old said, “when I stand in my garden I can feel the seeds under the earth, everything growing, and I have a connection to all of life.” As we continue our work of creation at this site we hope to network with other gardeners like him.

So does gardening lower blood pressure? As yet it is impossible to say for certain that it does, but some doctors would say that a connection with nature plays a large part in increasing longevity. Medical research increasingly supports the idea that having a space to explore our affinity for nature helps us stay healthy. We are part of the natural world, we are connected to and restored by it. Naturally, scientists are discovering, looking at what we have grown, rather than concrete, steel, or bare naked driveways, can lower blood pressure, boost immune function, and reduce stress.

At Home Grown Food Network we believe that you don’t have to live in a mansion with a gardener to achieve this. All that’s required is a private space to explore the instinctive love of nature we all are blessed with and a willingness to plant a few herbs, vegetables, and the occasional flower! Doing this in a trailer park setting is a down to earth demonstration of how anyone, regardless of income level, can benefit twice from having a private yard- first just to look at and then to be nourished by what grows there!.

Now that makes me feel calmer just writing it!

Peter Naughton
Manager, Home Grown Food Network.