This study focuses on the effects of the use of green spaces on the self-reported well-being measures of life satisfaction and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare two distinct groups of people: garden owners and non-garden owners. We collected quantitative data and data from an open-ended question online from 495 people living in all regions of Germany in May 2020. To analyze our quantitative data, we used a combination of descriptive statistics and hierarchal regressions. Here, results indicated that garden owners had substantially greater life satisfaction and mental well-being than non-garden owners. Additionally, the two groups differed statistically significant in many socioeconomic factors (e.g., income, age, fear of job loss), in the context of time spent outside, as well as personality traits. Our analyses suggest that these differences are valuable for understanding differences between the two groups’ self-reported well-being. To analyze the open-ended question, we followed the main steps of a qualitative content analysis. Here, we found that the vast majority of participants associated positive meanings (e.g., freedom and joy) with private gardens and public green spaces during the pandemic. Our findings have implications for policies to promote and support the design and use of public green spaces. Overall, our findings support governmental decisions in Germany (as elsewhere) to keep public green spaces open during the first wave of the outbreak of COVID-19, suggesting that green spaces provide valuable support for self-reported well-being in these difficult times of COVID-19 contagion.

本研究的重点是在 COVID-19 大流行期间，绿地的使用对自我报告的生活满意度和心理健康的幸福感测量的影响。我们比较了两个不同的人群：园主和非园主。我们从 2020 年 5 月居住在德国所有地区的 495 人的在线开放式问题中收集了定量数据和数据。为了分析我们的定量数据，我们结合使用了描述性统计和层次回归。在这里，结果表明园主的生活满意度和心理幸福感明显高于非园主。此外，这两个群体在许多社会经济因素（例如，收入、年龄、对失业的恐惧）、在户外度过的时间以及性格特征方面存在统计学差异。我们的分析表明，这些差异对于理解两组自我报告的幸福感之间的差异很有价值。为了分析开放式问题，我们遵循了定性内容分析的主要步骤。在这里，我们发现绝大多数参与者在大流行期间将积极意义（例如，自由和快乐）与私人花园和公共绿地联系在一起。我们的研究结果对促进和支持公共绿地设计和使用的政策具有重要意义。总体而言，我们的研究结果支持德国（和其他地方一样）政府决定在 COVID-19 爆发的第一波期间保持公共绿地开放，这表明绿地在这些困难时期为自我报告的幸福感提供了宝贵的支持COVID-19 传染。