--- topic: "Gardening and Health" title: "Is Gardening Good for Your Health?" order: 1 description: "Gardening is linked to less stress and more activity. What a meta-analysis, a garden trial and a large cohort show, plus tick, sun and potting-mix risks." question: "Is gardening good for your health?" answer: "Likely, modestly: gardening is linked to lower stress and anxiety and somewhat more activity, though many studies are small or self-selected." actions: - "Start small with a container, window box or shared plot; in one trial, 30 minutes of gardening lowered cortisol more than 30 minutes of reading after a stressful task [3]." - "Garden regularly and count it as exercise: in a US cohort, gardeners had about 24% lower risk of dying over 17 years, though they may differ from non-gardeners [4]." - "Grow edibles: community gardeners ate more fruit and vegetables in a Denver survey, but a randomized trial found only a small fiber gain and no change in total produce [5][2]." cautions: - "Ticks: check yourself within 36 hours of time in the yard and bathe within 2 hours; both were linked to lower Lyme disease risk in a Connecticut study [6]." - "Compost and potting mix can carry Legionella longbeachae, a cause of pneumonia: dampen it, avoid breathing dust and wash hands before touching your face, especially with smoking or COPD [7]." - "Wear gloves, eye and sun protection, and keep tetanus shots current: garden-tool eye injuries are common [8], and tetanus bacteria live in soil [9]; if pregnant, ask about soil-borne infections." confidence: 3 confidenceNote: "A meta-analysis, a 291-person randomized trial and a large cohort agree on direction, but many studies are small, short or self-selected, and the benefits look modest." evidenceSummary: rctCount: 2 observationalCount: 3 metaAnalysisCount: 1 totalParticipants: "13,800+" replicated: true newestStudyYear: 2025 references: - id: "1" pmid: "27981022" title: "Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis" authors: "Soga M, Gaston KJ, Yamaura Y" year: 2017 journal: "Prev Med Rep" - id: "2" pmid: "36608945" title: "Effects of a community gardening intervention on diet, physical activity, and anthropometry outcomes in the USA (CAPS): an observer-blind, randomised controlled trial" authors: "Litt JS, Alaimo K, Harrall KK, et al." year: 2023 journal: "Lancet Planet Health" - id: "3" pmid: "20522508" title: "Gardening promotes neuroendocrine and affective restoration from stress" authors: "Van Den Berg AE, Custers MH" year: 2011 journal: "J Health Psychol" - id: "4" pmid: "38658226" title: "Outdoor gardening activity with different frequency and duration may be associated with reduction of total and cause-specific mortality risk for general U.S. adults: Findings from the NHANES" authors: "Liang JH, Liu ML, Huang SY, et al." year: 2024 journal: "Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis" - id: "5" pmid: "21680931" title: "The influence of social involvement, neighborhood aesthetics, and community garden participation on fruit and vegetable consumption" authors: "Litt JS, Soobader MJ, Turbin MS, et al." year: 2011 journal: "Am J Public Health" - id: "6" pmid: "19595558" title: "Peridomestic Lyme disease prevention: results of a population-based case-control study" authors: "Connally NP, Durante AJ, Yousey-Hindes KM, et al." year: 2009 journal: "Am J Prev Med" - id: "7" pmid: "28628460" title: "Risk Factors for Legionella longbeachae Legionnaires' Disease, New Zealand" authors: "Kenagy E, Priest PC, Cameron CM, et al." year: 2017 journal: "Emerg Infect Dis" - id: "8" pmid: "40449067" title: "Gardening hazards to vision: Patterns of eye injuries in emergency care" authors: "Lee MJ, Dutton S, Rizzuto PR" year: 2025 journal: "Am J Emerg Med" - id: "9" pmid: "21451446" title: "Tetanus surveillance --- United States, 2001-2008" authors: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)" year: 2011 journal: "MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep" - id: "10" pmid: "23597347" title: "Harvesting more than vegetables: the potential weight control benefits of community gardening" authors: "Zick CD, Smith KR, Kowaleski-Jones L, et al." year: 2013 journal: "Am J Public Health" - id: "11" pmid: "33997887" title: "Urban collective garden participation and health: a systematic literature review of potential benefits for free-living adults" authors: "Tharrey M, Darmon N" year: 2021 journal: "Nutr Rev" - id: "12" pmid: "16181463" title: "Ultraviolet exposure patterns of Irish and Danish gardeners during work and leisure" authors: "Thieden E, Collins SM, Philipsen PA, et al." year: 2005 journal: "Br J Dermatol" --- Gardening is moderate activity done outdoors, and the research is mostly encouraging. A meta-analysis found gardeners had less depression and anxiety, more life satisfaction and a stronger sense of community [1], and a randomized trial of new community gardeners found larger drops in stress and anxiety than a waiting-list group [2]. The effects look modest, and gardeners may differ from non-gardeners. Ticks, tools, sun and potting mix bring small risks. ## How it works ### What gardening adds Gardening combines moderate movement, time outdoors, a sense of purpose, and often social contact and fresh food. A meta-analysis of 22 studies found it linked to less depression, anxiety and body mass index (BMI), and to more life satisfaction, quality of life and sense of community; the studies showed signs of publication bias, though the effect held after adjustment [1]. ### Stress in the moment After a stressful task, 30 gardeners were randomly assigned to 30 minutes of gardening or reading. Cortisol, a stress hormone, fell more with gardening, and positive mood was fully restored [3]. ### The best trial so far The Community Activation for Prevention study randomized 291 adults on a Denver-area waiting list for community gardens to receive a plot or keep waiting [2]. Over a season, gardeners ended up with about 1.4 g more fiber and 5.8 more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity a day than waiting-list participants, though the estimates were imprecise, and they had larger drops in stress and anxiety; BMI, waist size and combined fruit and vegetable intake did not differ significantly [2]. ### Food, weight and lifespan In Denver, community gardeners ate fruit and vegetables 5.7 times a day versus 3.9 for non-gardeners [5]. In Salt Lake City, community gardeners had BMIs about 2 points lower than their neighbors [10]. In a national US survey followed for about 17 years, people who gardened had a 24% lower risk of death [4]. These are observational findings: people who choose gardening may be healthier or more motivated to begin with, and a systematic review found that most collective-garden studies were cross-sectional with selection bias [11]. ### Risks to manage Ticks, soil and sun are the main hazards. Checking for ticks and bathing soon after yard time were linked to less Lyme disease [6]. Gardeners' sun exposure depends on when they work; in a dosimeter study, the group with lower doses may have benefited from indoor breaks at peak sun [12]. Compost and potting mix can carry Legionella longbeachae [7], tetanus bacteria live in soil [9], and garden tools injure eyes [8]. Before you grow food, read [Lead and Other Contaminants in Garden Soil](/garden-soil-contaminants/lead-and-other-contaminants-in-garden-soil). Whether soil microbes add anything beyond the activity, fresh air and company is early, unproven science; see [Dirt, Soil Microbes, and Immune Health](/soil-microbes-and-immunity/dirt-soil-microbes-and-immune-health). ## The evidence in detail ### Pooled evidence Soga and colleagues meta-analyzed 22 studies (76 comparisons), mostly from the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, comparing health outcomes before and after gardening or between gardeners and non-gardeners [1]. Outcomes included reductions in depression, anxiety and BMI and increases in life satisfaction, quality of life and sense of community [1]. Egger's test showed publication bias, but the positive effect remained after trim-and-fill adjustment [1]. Limitation: the controls were people before they started gardening or non-gardeners, not randomized groups. ### The randomized trial In the CAPS trial, 493 adults were screened and 291 who had not gardened in two years were randomized 1:1 to a community garden plot (145) or a waiting list (146) [2]. Mean age was 41.5, 82% were women and 34% Hispanic; data collected after February 2020 were excluded because of the pandemic, leaving 237 participants (81%) with measures before it [2]. Time-by-intervention effects were significant for fiber intake (p=0.034; between-group difference 1.41 g/day at the autumn timepoint, 99.5% CI -2.09 to 4.92) and moderate-to-vigorous activity (p=0.012; 5.80 minutes/day, 99.5% CI -4.44 to 16.05) [2]. There were no significant effects on combined fruit and vegetable intake, the Healthy Eating Index, sedentary time, BMI or waist circumference, but perceived stress and anxiety fell more in gardeners [2]. Limitations: a waiting-list control, partly self-reported outcomes, and strict-threshold confidence intervals that cross zero, so the effects are small and imprecise. One gardener had an allergic event. ### A small experiment on stress Van den Berg and Custers had 30 allotment gardeners do a stressful Stroop task and randomly assigned them to 30 minutes of gardening or indoor reading on their own plot [3]. Both lowered salivary cortisol, but the fall was significantly stronger with gardening, and positive mood was fully restored after gardening but worsened during reading [3]. Limitations: 30 experienced gardeners, one session, acute effects only. ### Observational studies and their weaknesses Litt and colleagues' Denver survey of 436 residents in 58 block groups found that community gardeners ate fruit and vegetables 5.7 times a day, home gardeners 4.6 and non-gardeners 3.9, and that 56%, 37% and 25% respectively met the five-a-day recommendation [5]. Zick and colleagues compared 198 Salt Lake City community gardeners with neighbors, siblings and spouses; BMI was lower than neighbors' by 1.84 in women and 2.36 in men, and lower than sisters' by 1.88 and brothers' by 1.33 [10]. In the NHANES cohort of 13,812 adults followed for a median 16.8 years (3,476 deaths), gardening was linked to lower total mortality (hazard ratio 0.76, 95% CI 0.68-0.85), cardiovascular mortality (0.65, 0.53-0.80), cancer mortality (0.81, 0.67-0.99) and respiratory mortality (0.66, 0.45-0.98), with more frequent and longer gardening linked to lower mortality [4]. A systematic review of 15 urban collective-garden studies found higher fruit and vegetable intake, mixed results for activity and physiology and mostly positive mental and social health, but 13 of 15 were cross-sectional with selection bias and only three used objective measures [11]. Notably, the trial did not reproduce the fruit-and-vegetable gap seen in surveys, a sign that self-selection may inflate cross-sectional associations. ### Hazards In a Connecticut case-control study of 364 people with Lyme disease and 349 matched controls, checking for ticks within 36 hours (odds ratio 0.55, 95% CI 0.32-0.94) and bathing within 2 hours (0.42, 0.23-0.78) of yard time were protective, as was fencing (0.54, 0.33-0.90) [6]. UV dosimeters worn by 53 gardeners for four summer months showed median work-day doses of 0.97 standard erythema doses in Irish and 1.6 in Danish gardeners, with the authors suggesting that the lower exposure may reflect indoor breaks at peak UV [12]. In a New Zealand case-control study (31 cases, 172 controls), Legionella longbeachae disease was linked to COPD, smoking for more than 10 years and exposure to compost or potting mix, particularly unwashed hands near the face after handling it; masks and gloves were not protective [7]. US surveillance recorded 233 tetanus cases in 2001-2008, with a 13.2% case-fatality rate among those with known outcomes, and of 51 patients with an acute wound and enough data, 49 had not received appropriate prophylaxis [9]. Garden-tool eye injuries accounted for an estimated 9,326 US emergency visits over 2014-2023, about half of them contusions or corneal abrasions, most often caused by debris [8]. ### Bottom line (confidence 3 of 5) Gardening is a sensible, low-cost way to move more, spend time outdoors and ease stress, and the evidence leans positive. But trial effects are small, many studies are self-selected, and the hazards need basic precautions. Gardening is not a treatment for any disease.