There has, however, been a series of scientific studies of “therapeutic horticulture”4—getting people to try gardening to improve their mental health. None of the studies have been carried out on especially big groups or for a long time, and the studies aren’t perfectly designed, so we should handle them with some skepticism—but the results suggest there’s something here we should be looking at more. One study of depressed people in Norway found that a program like this moved people on average 4.5 points on the depression scale—more than double the effect of chemical antidepressants.
