Book Review: The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith

Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist and gardener of many years.

The Well Gardened Mind is a well researched and thoughtful book exploring how gardening is good for the mind, body and soul.

This is a book to dip into, and also to read again and again. It’s a haven of information, history and guidance. The starting point of the book is a story about the author’s grandfather and his recovery from being an escaped POW, restored through a post-war programme of gardening to provide skills and recovery.

The author uses her extensive professional experience to weave into her writing the benefits of topics such as the act of gardening, being near to gardens and the perils of living in cities without any access to green nature.

Her writing is extensively researched, and each chapter is full of factual information that backs up her beautifully written prose. Almost every sentence is worth reading and contemplating, which makes it worthwhile to go back and re-read sections. I was constantly doing this, to try and remember everything I found interesting.

The chapters of this book cover topics reaching from the practices of our ancient ancestors which still echo within us today, to the power of having gardens in hospitals.

The author weaves in stories from her research, such as gardening projects all over the world, as well as snippets from her own extensive garden.

I highly recommend this book as a resource to learn about how the natural world is inside us, and how our physical make up derives from and is influenced by nature.

If you’re a gardener yourself, this book is particularly useful and interesting. While it talks about the natural world, the author frequently brings back her research and examples to the garden itself – from bacteria in the soil, to seed planting, and the effect light on a particular plant has on her.

“All gardens exist on two levels: the real garden on the one hand, and the imagined or remembered on the other.”

“Trees give structure and a sense of enduring life to a place. They make us feel safe and protected.”

“It is a relationship of mutual influence, through which we, too, are shaped.”

“Increasingly it is recognised that the environment should not be regarded as something separate from (hospital/medical) treatment, but a fundamental part of it.”

“Stop chasing an idealised version of life and turning a blind eye to the problems of this one – make the most of what you have around you and get stuck into something real.”