6 Benefits of a Community Edible Garden

30 June 2022

Inquire Now

Today's lifestyle is very hectic, with work and duties consuming a large portion of people's time. The human body becomes worn out from continual labor, and we need tranquility, mainly if we spend much of our time in front of a gadget like a phone or a computer.

Due to this reason, community gardens are becoming more popular and sought after by both citizens and local government authorities alike, as they serve a range of services within a community that the general public appreciates.

It is refreshing to be outdoors and feel the earth under our feet since daily labor wears down our bodies, and we want serenity. Gardens like this are often touted as having several benefits, including reducing food insecurity, improving local economies, and promoting health and education.

In this article, let's talk about the advantages of establishing a community garden like the one we have in Lumina Baliwag and how it can help promote sustainable agriculture and strengthen community ties.

Social and Health Benefits of Community Gardens

Community gardens provide many advantages for both the people and the environment. These gardens foster camaraderie among neighbors who are becoming more distant, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic still on the run across the globe. They give a way to deliver nutritious food in areas where it is frequently difficult to get it.

Below are some of the health benefits that community gardens bring to people:

1. Community garden improves mental health.

Regarding mental well-being, gardening has been shown to have several benefits. One of them is improving one's mood. Gardening is a great way to feel contented and relaxed. It is possible to decrease unpleasant thoughts and attitudes about gardening by focusing on the present duties and specifics. In fact, many individuals find that just being in the presence of plants reduces their level of anxiety and tension.

Another mental health benefit of community gardeners is that it helps them to boost their self-esteem. Self-esteem is how much you regard and appreciate your own worth. To tell the truth, growing a plant is a difficult task; that's why seeing the results of your labor in the form of flourishing plants fills you with a greater feeling of accomplishment.

Also, a community garden helps us to improve our attention span. It is possible to improve your ability to focus on a single task by cultivating your garden. You may learn to focus on what's immediately in front of you without becoming distracted by gardening if you're having a hard time keeping on track. As a matter of fact, according to research, exercising outside has been shown to alleviate ADHD symptoms.

2. Increase fruit and vegetable intake by regularly obtaining fresh produce.

Community gardens bring people to regularly obtain fresh produce. A greater intake of fruits and vegetables was shown to be linked to participation in a community garden.

According to research, those who worked in a community garden at least once a week were more likely to say that their participation in the garden increased their intake of fruits and vegetables. Research says that they ate fruits and vegetables 1.4 times more often than those who didn't engage in the community garden and were three times as likely to eat them as their own food at least five times a day.

This leads to a conclusion that urban adults' fruit and vegetable consumption may be improved by household involvement in an urban agriculture or community garden.

3. Promoting sustainable agriculture through vacant lots.

Rural and urban neighborhoods with community gardens contribute to helping the environment by cutting down on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the transportation of food and produce from other parts of the region or country. It also frees up areas previously used for agriculture, allowing natural regeneration to occur there instead.

Therefore, rural and urban community gardeners is a venture that benefits different areas of a country in social and economic aspects by encouraging the local economy and acts as an effective method of food security for a family by producing fresh fruits and vegetables inside the community. It also saves food transportation costs that contribute to overall community building and property values.

4. Healthy outdoor exercise.

When you enjoy it, you might not feel that gardening is a kind of gentle physical activity. It benefits the heart and lungs by reducing your risk of developing diseases and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and even certain malignancies.

The majority of people like gardening that they don't even realize that they're working out. In addition, it's a lot more enjoyable than walking on a treadmill.

5. Strengthening community ties.

Community gardens are prominent for allowing neighbors to produce and making fresh produce accessible, nutritious food right in their own backyards. However, in addition to boosting food production, community gardens and many urban neighborhoods that have urban gardening space are potent tools for neighborhood-level social transformation. It's a win-win situation for homeowners involved when neighbors work together to create, maintain, and manage a community garden.

6. Therapeutic benefits of community gardening.

According to various studies, gardening has been demonstrated to lower stress and related depression in several ways. Two examples of this are immersing yourself in nature and engaging in a constructive, creative endeavor. Community gardens are described as a place of sanctuary, a place of serenity and relaxation, as well as competence, pleasure, curiosity, and hope.

In addition to these many benefits, productive vegetable plots and community gardens also bring positive health effects as it is non-pharmacological to aid those with dementia who don't want to use medication. Growing evidence supports the claims that horticulture therapy may help with attention spans, anxiety, and sleep disorders.

A community that offers garden space and promotes healthy life

Now that you know the benefits of community gardens, it just feels right to include them in your factors to consider when purchasing a brand new home for your family.

These days, city dwellers and those who are renting in urban areas are gradually moving to suburbs or searching for available house and lot packages just outside the city. If you are one of them, you can now achieve a suburban life complete with garden beds on vacant land and a healthy lifestyle as you grow fresh veggies in your own backyard.

Lumina Homes, aiming to provide the best home ownership experience to every Filipino, now include in its subdivision amenities a community garden for all its residents and future homeowners.

Unused spaces turned into an edible community garden inside Lumina Homes communities can adhere that this activity can do so much to foster relationships with residents. Engaging citizens to have a new way of relieving stress by planting and having a community spirit. Parents can also make it to bond with kids and enjoy educational opportunities on the importance of healthy food and how to make it.

Residents can now personally invest in raised beds and community involvement while they help reduce negative environmental impacts by bringing a more sustainable system to their neighborhood. Aside from this, community gardens also promote nutritious foods and healthy eating among residents, not to mention an active lifestyle for a hale and hearty community.

Discover your love for community gardens by reading these related articles: