Interesting paper on the philosopher Epicurus and his garden that made a come back, in England, in the late seventeenth century.

 

http://www.18thcenturycommon.org/cultivating-philosophy-in-the-epicurean-garden/

 

 

Excerpt:  "retreat into a natural space where even the poorest of humans might experience the noblest of tranquil virtues, thereby rivaling or surpassing kings in the simple acts of growing, weeding, planting, and reaping."