A Well Gardened Mind
How can getting involved in gardening help the health & wellbeing of people and the planet?
If you're interested in how gardening can help your mental & physical health listen to my Brave New Girls podcast guest this week, DR Sue Stuart-Smith who is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind, a Sunday Times Bestseller & gardening book of the year by The Sunday Times. She investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years – working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing & confidence whether we're struggling with stress, depression, trauma or addiction, & the book includes stories from asylum seekers to veterans, inner-city young people to the retired.
Sue's journey into gardening wasn't immediate - it began through marriage to a garden-loving husband and watching her mother find solace in gardening after becoming widowed. Her own gateway was through growing herbs for cooking, which evolved into vegetable gardening. As a psychiatrist, she noticed how weekend gardening helped her manage work stress, leading to a deeper exploration of gardening's therapeutic benefits.
The research is compelling: within 30 seconds of entering a garden, heart rate and blood pressure decrease. After 20-30 minutes, stress hormone levels drop significantly. These benefits extend beyond simple relaxation - gardens provide sanctuary, beauty, and connection to nature's regenerative powers.
Sue's work has revealed gardening's profound impact on existential questions, helping people process loss, trauma, and hopelessness. Her grandfather's story of recovery from war trauma through horticultural therapy inspired much of her research. Even in the trenches of WWI, soldiers created small garden plots, demonstrating humanity's innate need to connect with nature's beauty and growth during crisis.
Today, Sue runs the Serge Hill Project, offering gardening experiences to schools and mental health charities. This work is particularly vital given that modern children spend less time outdoors than maximum security prisoners - just 30 minutes daily.
Sue gives us a deep insight into all the ways that gardening and growing vegetables helps people and their mental health, and how the more that we are in touch with the soil, the healthier the connection we have with ourselves and with our planet. She shows us how much we gain from getting our hands dirty and feeling the joy of growing things out of the earth, both for our own health & for that of our planet.
Brave New Girl- How to Be Fearless.
10 Actionable Steps:
1. Start small - even microgreens on a windowsill count
2. Create a daily outdoor routine, preferably in the morning
3. Practice mindful gardening - notice sounds, textures, and smells
4. Leave some areas 'wild' to support biodiversity
5. Consider no-mow May or creating meadow paths
6. Join a community garden to combine social connection with nature
7. Bring plants into your workspace to improve relationships
8. Create a small herb garden for cooking
9. Garden without headphones to fully connect with nature
10. Don't aim for perfection - let nature do some of the work
Gardening offers profound healing benefits for both our mental and physical health while supporting planetary wellbeing by getting our hands in the soil and growing plants and through creating more biodiversity in our world.
PS. Listen HERE to SUE’S journey on BRAVE NEW GIRLS podcast to hear how she helps us create well beings on a well planet.
