Our gardens have untapped potential. How can we use them to help biodiversity and improve our own health and wellbeing? Dr. Christine Mullan-Jensen shares the findings of her recent study: ‘“Two million gardens could be the biggest National Park in Ireland”: pathways to nature in domestic gardens’
By Dr. Christine Mullan-Jensen, Repsychable/ Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
This blog is part of the ‘Dispatches from Researchers’ series, which features guest articles written by experts in pollination and related fields.
Ireland, despite its ‘green’ perception, is ranked 13th lowest in the world for its biodiversity. Yet we have 2 million gardens in Ireland accounting for 359,000 acres of land which could be better used as sites of nature and biodiversity restoration.
A recent study ‘”Two million gardens could be the biggest National Park in Ireland”: pathways to nature in domestic gardens’ sheds light on how to build stronger nature pathways in gardens from an environmental psychology perspective. It involved 4 focus groups and a short survey to explore force fields for change. The study delved deep into understanding both the bridges to increasing biodiversity in our semi-private domestic garden spaces but also barriers.
Key findings:
The study suggests that domestic gardens have untapped potential as sites of positive collective action to reverse the biodiversity crisis and enhance human health. The bridges and barriers are shown below across 4 levels:
What are the bridges to enhancing biodiversity in gardens?
- Experiencing co-benefits (savouring time/nature, success, beauty)
- Working with the garden’s capabilities (getting creative within the garden’s particular structure/setting)
- Aligning with a biodiverse/wilder garden identity and style (further enhanced by being part of movements like No Mow May/other community initiatives)
- Having a nature learning infrastructure (being able to practically learn how to garden for nature – accessing information that can be applied in their own garden setting)
What are the barriers against enhancing biodiversity in gardens?
- Being disconnected from nature (unaware of benefits/put off by dirt or bugs)
- Seeing biodiverse gardening work as unfeasible (unsure about how to garden for biodiversity while still keeping a tidy garden)
- Being afraid of the judgement of others (shame about having an untidy garden – particularly important to those gardening in a conventional way)
- Not feeling aligned with biodiversity and nature (both how effective individual actions would be but also the terminology and language used)
Individual pathways are influenced by these different factors which pull citizens towards bridges to biodiversity in their gardens or which push them away. The research highlights tipping points for change in a sense of curiosity and openness to a different type of gardening for biodiversity. Ultimately, however it unearthed a second layer of shame where biodiverse gardeners feel ashamed of the depleted biodiversity we are leaving behind for future generations.
4 KEY TIPS FROM THE RESEARCH:
1. Take time to be in your garden
- Just sit in your garden or potter around-notice how it feels
- Remember accessing nature is good for your health and wellbeing (it also lowers the stress hormone cortisol)
- Your garden is your private space to be yourself (particularly your back garden)
- Let nature help you no matter your mood (it may even improve your mood)
In environmental psychology there is lots of research that spending time in your garden is good for you. Take a cup of tea and sit there and see if your garden is already welcoming any visitors like birds or bees or butterflies.
2. Choose your style – and make small (or big) changes
Every garden is different. There is not a one size fits all way to approach a more biodiverse garden. Have fun and get creative.
There are many ways to welcome nature in:
- Nudge yourself to be a bit less conventional – get curious about what could be done in your garden to embrace native nature or more biodiversity
- Remember shame is a barrier that can be overcome
- Worried what others think of your front garden? Pop out a sign to say you’re managing it for nature
- Your back garden is a great place to start – no-one will see and you can build up your own style.
3. Learn from others and share:
- Learn from others whose style you like – here are a few great websites/booklets:
- Join local initiatives or social media groups who share practical advice like:
- Introductory gardening courses
- Garden advice clinics
- Garden visits
- Community gardens
- Plant swaps
- Seed collections
- Finding native nature suppliers
- If you don’t have time or are not able to do this yourself, reach out to others who would love to help in your garden through initiatives like https://communityroots.ie/
Most of all, as you build up your knowledge or approach, pass on your learning.
4. Think of your garden as part of Ireland’s biggest National Park
This is a key tip from the research participants. Your garden is your choice. It doesn’t sit in isolation and is connected to the garden next to it and the next one. Each connection creates corridors for insects and wildlife to move on to the countryside and coast.
Imagine the outcome if just 500k of Ireland’s 2million gardens embraced more native nature and biodiversity? Often, we feel that governments or farmers need to change land use, but together every little garden patch can do a lot.
Dr. Christine Mullan-Jensen is an environmental psychologist and qualitative researcher. She has over 25 years of experience across multiple sectors (health research, social research and market research). She blends a psycho-social perspective with applied research investigations through her consultancy Repsychable. Christine’s research interests are in how everyday actions can be aggregated for change. Christine holds a PhD in Social Work from Queen’s University Belfast, a MSc in Environmental Psychology from Maynooth University and a BA in Psychology and French from Trinity College Dublin.
Find out more:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2024.2381968
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