Community gardening schemes can reduce crime, improve the local environment and bring neighbourhoods together, a survey by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has showed.
The RHS said that while the image of the Britain in Bloom scheme it runs is of "pretty villages in south-east England with hanging baskets", it could also deliver social and environmental benefits in cities and towns.
Some 2,100 communities across the UK take part in the Britain in Bloom competition and its non-competitive counterpart, It's Your Neighbourhood, clocking up 4.4 million hours of volunteering by more than 200,000 residents.
A survey by the RHS of more than 230 Britain in Bloom and It's Your Neighbourhood groups revealed that half of communities thought the schemes had reduced crime and anti-social behaviour, and 40% said their local environment was safer.
Nine out of 10 groups said the highest impact of being involved in the schemes was on community development, with their gardening projects bringing people together for the first time.
Two thirds (65%) worked with local schools in their area, and four fifths (79%) said they felt more civic pride and the horticulture schemes raised their aspirations for their neighbourhoods.
RHS director-general Sue Biggs said: "Clearly the country is having quite a difficult time, but if you look at the benefits of these schemes, it's an incredible thing for very little money, and that's important when money is so tight."
And with fruit and vegetables increasingly grown in community gardens, the schemes could increase access to cheap fresh food for urban residents as well as providing health benefits from exercise, she said.
The RHS said participants plant, on average, 53 trees, 162 shrubs and almost 10,000 plants and bulbs a year each, with 115,000 trees, 352,000 shrubs and 21.6 million plants and bulbs planted annually countrywide.
Almost 70% of groups also clear litter and a quarter remove graffiti, the survey found. A quarter of the schemes involved people on community service, and around 13% of those referred through Community Payback came back once they had completed the hours allotted by the courts, the survey revealed.
