{"id":22331,"date":"2026-06-01T17:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/?p=22331"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:01:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:01:39","slug":"consumer-health-minute-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/consumer-health-minute-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Health Minute: Gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cMight I,\u201d quavered Mary, \u201cmight I have a bit of earth?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Many of you may remember this line from <em>The Secret Garden<\/em> by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a popular children\u2019s book written over a hundred years ago. Books can have a way of encouraging readers to explore and try something new.\u00a0For many, gardening or just even being in a garden can have a profound effect on our mental and physical health just as the secret garden did for Mary and her friends.<\/p>\n<p>In fact here are just a few of the mental and physical benefits of gardening:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Encourages socialization (connect with family, friends, and the community)<\/li>\n<li>Better sleep<\/li>\n<li>Boosts mood (you feel better)<\/li>\n<li>Considered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthy-weight-growth\/physical-activity\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">moderate physical activity by CDC<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Reduces stress<\/li>\n<li>Improves cardiovascular health<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Vegetable gardens can also help with eating a healthier diet and can help reduce the cost of groceries. Often, we are more willing to eat something we helped to grow and this can be true for kids too.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22332\" src=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Pixabay_FamilyGardening_20260526.jpg\" alt=\"A mother and two young children working in a raised bed\" width=\"440\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Pixabay_FamilyGardening_20260526.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Pixabay_FamilyGardening_20260526-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Pixabay_FamilyGardening_20260526-1024x571.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Pixabay_FamilyGardening_20260526-768x428.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In addition to considering adding books about gardening to your library, consider adding to your Library of Things with a variety of gardening tools. This can especially be handy for those just starting out and giving gardening a try as well as for those who have limited space to store tools.<\/p>\n<p>Some libraries have held gardening related events such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Partner with the local <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.org\/find-cooperative-extension-in-your-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cooperative Extension Office<\/a> to host basic gardening classes<\/li>\n<li>Start a community garden at the library<\/li>\n<li>Create a mini seed-starting greenhouse<\/li>\n<li>Hold a gardening &#8220;Throwdown&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Host a flower garden planting at the library and watch them grow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These programs encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to participate and share their questions and knowledge.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22347\" style=\"width: 291px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22347\" class=\" wp-image-22347\" src=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/PeaVines_EH.png\" alt=\"Pea vines climbing a wire fence in a garden\" width=\"281\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/PeaVines_EH.png 458w, https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/PeaVines_EH-278x300.png 278w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">pea vines in Emily&#8217;s garden<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Additional resources for gardening programs<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.webjunction.org\/news\/webjunction\/growing-library-garden-programs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Growing Library Garden Programs<\/a> (WebJunction blog post)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/programminglibrarian.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Programming Librarian<\/a> (search &#8220;Garden&#8221; or &#8220;Gardening&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uccalfresh.ucdavis.edu\/initiatives\/gardening\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CalFresh Healthy Living &#8211; Gardening<\/a>, (University of California Garden Initiative)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.countyhealthrankings.org\/strategies-and-solutions\/what-works-for-health\/strategies\/community-gardens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Community Gardens<\/a>, (County Health Rankings and Roadmaps)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alastore.ala.org\/content\/libraries-and-gardens-growing-together\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Libraries and Gardens: Growing Together<\/a>, (ALA book)<\/p>\n<h2>Resources about the health benefits of gardening<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2024\/08\/22\/gardening-as-occupational-therapy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gardening as Occupational Therapy<\/a>,(NLM Circulating Now blog post)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/skagitmg.org\/health-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Health Benefits of Gardening<\/a>, (Skagit County WSU Extension Master Gardener)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/health.clevelandclinic.org\/benefits-of-gardening\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Gardening Is So Good for You<\/a>, (Cleveland Clinic)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC5153451\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis<\/a>, (freely available PubMed Central article from the journal, Preventative Medicine Reports)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC12484508\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Urban Agriculture Interventions in Refugee and Immigrant Communities: A Scoping Review<\/a>, (freely available PubMed Central article from the Journal of Urban Health)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMight I,\u201d quavered Mary, \u201cmight I have a bit of earth?\u201d Many of you may remember this line from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a popular children\u2019s book written over a hundred years ago. Books can have a way of encouraging readers to explore and try something new.\u00a0For many, gardening or just even&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/consumer-health-minute-gardening\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[457,11],"tags":[119,234,225,477,93],"class_list":["post-22331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consumer-health-minute","category-public-libraries","tag-consumer-health","tag-libraries","tag-library-programming","tag-outdoors","tag-outreach"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22331"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22368,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331\/revisions\/22368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}