Garden Care: an "emotional Space"
"Gardens of Europe 2025” is the name of a survey on Europeans' relationship with gardening, commissioned by the Stiga group from the Italian branch of the British research institute YouGov. The Castelfranco Veneto (TV) group has been active for over 90 years and is present in 87 countries with the Stiga, Alpina, Mountfield, Castelgarden and Atco brands manufactured in facilities in Italy, Slovakia and China, with a total annual production of over one million vehicles.
The results of the survey conducted last spring on a sample of over 5,000 adults - representative for gender, age and geographical distribution of the population – shows that on average, 22% of Europeans have a garden of less than 125 m2 (31% in Great Britain and 26% in Italy), with 9% having open spaces of over 500 m2. In the survey, 73% of the sample (79% Italians) said they enjoy taking care of these areas, and 38% said engaging in this exercise gives a more active lifestyle.
A large section of the survey is dedicated to the impact of gardening on mental health, considered positive by 6 out of 10 respondents (69% of Italians, 73% of English and 70% of Spanish).
They stated it to be a true “emotional space” whose most important benefits are: time spent outdoors (67%), relaxation through contact with nature (50%) and a sense of personal fulfillment (39%).
On the technological front, starting from the assumption that 77% of those interviewed considered gardening a decidedly demanding activity, the most desired aids included smart irrigation systems for 33% of the sample (44% in Italy), autonomous lawnmower robots for 23% (26% in Italy), and apps for automatic plant identification for 20%.
