“To me, it's just natural to be in the garden”: A multi-site investigation of new community gardener motivation using Self-Determination Theory
Ashby Lavelle Sachs, Marion Tharrey, Nicole Darmon, Katherine Alaimo, Arianna Boshara, Alyssa Beavers, Jill Litt
Abstract
We compare interviews with 30 new community gardeners in Denver, Colorado and Montpellier, France, using Self-determination theory, a general theory of motivation, to determine how new community gardeners may or may not have felt motivated based on psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Relatedness as a motivational feature carried through the interview data at both sites. Participants’ success or failure to relate to other gardeners was a major influence for how autonomous and competent as a community gardener they expressed feeling. As the evidence grows that community gardening is beneficial for health and wellbeing, our findings are critical to understanding how community gardening could serve as a health promotion strategy. With the presence of ongoing, friendly support from others, more individuals may adhere to this socially connective, nature-based practice.