The Royal Horticultural Society asked the National Foundation for Educational Research to talk to 1,300 teachers and ten schools for their study. They found that gardening at school helps children learn and improveds several different skills.

Waiting for plants to grow helps you be patient, and having to deal with problems like bad weather or pests affecting plants makes you better at problem solving.

Gardening can help you overcome fears too. As some insects are really useful to gardeners and plants are needed to keep insects happy, gardening can help you get over any fears of creepy crawlies.

If you’ve ever grown your own vegetables you‘ll know how satisfying it is to finally pick and eat them. This means that young people who grow their own food are more adventurous about trying different fruit and veg, and therefore healthier than those who don’t eat much fruit or veg.

And you thought you were just growing a few plants!