News comes today from Salford, where a tree, shrubs and plants have been given to houses with bare gardens, and scientists have found that they reduce the stress hormone cortisol dramatically.

So away with concreted front gardens!

And as reported in the Guardian Weekly:

“Children whose outdoor play areas were transformed from gravel yards to mini-forests showed improved immune systems within a month. Researchers believe this is because the children had developed significantly more diverse microbes on their skin and in their guts. The study involved 75 children in two Finnish cities, a relatively small number for a trial. “But when we saw the results, we were very surprised because they were so strong,” said Aki Sinkkonen, at Natural Resources Institute Finland, who led the work. “Our study can pave the way for new preventive practices to cut the global epidemic of immune-related diseases.”