“Gardening provides aerobic, isotonic, and isometric exercise,” writes Murphy-Rogers, “the combination of which benefits the muscles and bones, as well as the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.”
This physical exercise provides mental benefits, too. Gardening releases endorphins that help to alleviate stress. Murphy-Rogers cites studies showing that simply being in a garden lowers blood pressure, balances the appetite, and regulates sleep cycles.
Gardeners are also more likely to eat a varied diet that consists of fruits, vegetables, and herbs than nongardeners are, even if they don’t cultivate these items themselves. They simply have a greater appreciation of foods that connect them further to the natural world. Instead of running to the corner deli or Wendy’s during their lunch hour, employees of companies with corporate gardens are more apt to pack their own lunches of salads and fresh produce.
Most important, gardens are places of meditation, oases in a fast-paced, technology-driven world. By getting outside for even one hour per day and interacting with the natural world by using all five senses, employees are able to restore the sense of balance and well-being that sitting in front of a computer screen all day can disrupt.
Gardening, in short, makes for healthier employees. And healthier employees rely less on company-provided health insurance.
Make Work a Bed of Roses
If you are a company head or employee who wants to start a corporate garden at your workplace, there are many factors to consider before you propose the idea to your superiors or begin tilling the soil.
First, find enough arable dirt. This is a challenge at most corporate headquarters, where the soil surrounding the building has been contaminated with fill from construction and polluted with a wide range of chemicals. In general, the corporate business park is not a place to grow tomatoes.
If you do find a site, the next step is to study the applicable health and safety regulations and obtain approval from the relevant agencies so that you don’t face future legal issues. You’ll also need to answer the following questions before making your company garden a reality:
How will the work be divided among employees?
“People don’t always follow through,” writes Severson. “It’s the same dynamic that fills the office refrigerator with old yogurt containers and moldy lunches.”
