ABSTRACT
Extensive literature reviews on therapeutic horticulture in 1978 and 2003 found few such studies, although this has been partly redressed since. The flourishing fields of positive psychology and happiness and wellbeing studies now provide a backdrop that fits well with the therapeutic benefits of gardening described in qualitative studies, many of these 'benefits' being fairly inchoate and difficult to quantify. These studies suggest that gardening can provide an escape from a difficult life or experience, that it can stand as a metaphor for life and its cycles, and also that it provides a structured arena for nurturing and social interaction. Biomedicine, which guides conventional approaches to health in the United Kingdom (UK), has been criticized for narrowly targeting diseases and conditions, and for being predominantly concerned with directly observable results, rather than considering the whole person in their wider environment.
