Sustainable Gardens in Corporate Spaces: Growing Wellness and Community

12 Nov 2024

As we head into the summer season, the warm weather brings a perfect opportunity for outdoor activities, relaxation, and a deeper connection to nature, making it the ideal time to embrace sustainable office gardens. With more daylight and inviting conditions, employees can enjoy fresh air, light exercise, and a refreshing break from indoor spaces in these green areas.

Across businesses worldwide, sustainable office gardens are on the rise. From small companies to large corporations, these green spaces allow employees to relax, reconnect with nature, and collaborate outside of meeting rooms. Office gardens aren’t just refreshing breaks from the daily routine, they bring fresh air, light exercise, and team-building spaces, while also producing organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs. More companies are recognising their value, not only as wellness spaces but as sustainable, community-focused areas that align with corporate social responsibility goals.

At Excellerate Services, we’ve helped clients create corporate vegetable gardens with this same vision in mind. These gardens, developed in collaboration with our landscaping teams, benefit employees, clients, and the local community. Fresh produce is used in onsite canteens and donated through outreach programs, creating inviting, eco-friendly spaces. This approach is mirrored in our own company garden, where our team enjoys the same benefits and connection to nature. As more businesses adopt these garden initiatives, they’re seeing how a little greenery can boost both employee well-being and environmental responsibility.

The Benefits of Sustainable Office Gardens

Adding sustainable gardens to corporate spaces is a low-cost, easy-to-maintain wellness solution. Office gardens require only a bit of space, soil, and seeds but offer big returns, fresh produce, a lower carbon footprint, and improved team morale. Sustainable practices like composting garden waste, planting a variety of crops, and including native plants help maintain a healthy balance in nature while minimising company waste.

In one of our client gardens, we’ve included fruit trees like peach, lime, fig, and apricot, adding beauty and produce. Edible flowers, such as pansies, attract pollinators, keep pests away, and make for unique garnishes in meals served onsite. This mix of plants highlights the many benefits of sustainable gardening and our commitment to eco-friendly practices.

Supporting Employee Wellness and Building Community through Gardening

Corporate gardens offer employees more than just a nice view, they boost well-being by giving employees time outdoors for fresh air and light exercise. Employees can take part in garden upkeep and harvesting, creating a sense of teamwork and pride in a shared project. These spaces foster conversations and collaboration, where job titles fade, and everyone contributes equally.

Many companies outsource garden management, as they do with Excellerate Services, to enjoy these green spaces without adding extra work for employees. By letting experts care for their office gardens, companies can ensure they flourish. Outsourcing also allows gardens to be customised to each company’s sustainability and wellness goals. Whether managed in-house or by a partner, these spaces remain powerful tools for supporting both employee and company growth.

Excellerate Services is always looking for new ways to support sustainable gardening. “In our own garden, we’re considering additions like shade netting to protect plants, earthworm composting, and turning canteen food waste into usable compost. This ‘closed-loop’ approach can help reduce waste, enrich the garden, and benefit employees and the community alike,” says Richard Forster, Excellerate Services Landscaping Specialist. We incorporate similar practices for our clients, tailoring gardens to meet specific needs and sustainability goals.

Our work in supporting corporate gardens is part of a larger trend in sustainable wellness, creating thriving spaces for employees and healthy landscapes that support both the environment and community. With these efforts, Excellerate Services is dedicated to a greener, more sustainable future, one garden at a time.