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Woman shopping for tomatoes in our changing world
From Seed to Table Series
Have you experienced a shortage at the grocery store? Are you looking for better nutritious foods? Do you have a desire to become more self sustainable?
With the ever-changing circumstances of life, now might be the time to understand a least 12 benefits of gardening.
Here is the list of 12 benefits of gardening
Healthier nutrition from fresh produce. What’s better than your own food you grew? You may not have to rely as heavily on the local grocery store. It also supplements your family diet and meal planning.
By growing your own fruits and vegetables, you can bring diversity, better nutrition and outstanding homegrown flavor to your table.
Mental health It does take some planning to decide what location to start your garden, seed starting, garden design, type of garden, size, water sources, pollination, what tools to invest in, and the plans for your bountiful harvest. Once the garden is established, you may find it a great meditation area!
Physical labor It will require bending, stretching, squatting, hand work, you get the idea.
Social Activity can be a great interaction with your kids, other family members, and neighbors. At the harvest, it is a great time to work together to preserve your bounty and share.
Self esteem. It can be very rewarding to see each phase of gardening from ground prep to picking that last ripe tomato.
Educational Gardening is a process and a does have a learning curve. We can challenge our minds to learn new things about plants and soil. There are many things for children to learn about garden science.
The practice of garden-based learning is a growing global phenomenon largely seen in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. As of 2010, the National Gardening Association reported over 3,000 school gardens in the United States alone.
Better sleep Like our moms and grandmas would say, with all that fresh air, you will sleep good tonight. Serotonin is a chemical in the brain that increases mood and feeling of calmness and peace
Stress reliever from pulling weeds to picking produce, cortisol levels are decreasing.
Calorie burner muscles are being strengthened because of the physical activities to maintain a garden.
VT D source sunshine!
Reduces the risk of heart and stroke
Boost our immune systems by getting our hands in the dirt
Here is what others are saying about garden benefits:
Heidi H: exercise
Michel L: talking with the neighbors when we are all out working in our garden
Steve K: tending and taking care of it
Carol B from www.chickychickchick.com states stress reliever
Deanna E: outdoor therapy and teaching life lessons to my children
Lisa H: the warmth of the sun when in the garden and satisfaction when you see no weeds and see veggies growing
Suzan F from www.itsmysustainablelife.com states all of the above and add to that meditation in motion and satisfaction.
Preparing to water the garden
Our garden history
Kraig and I grew up learning the basics of gardening. We both spent time in the family gardens as well as helping our grandparents as perhaps may you as well.
In our early married years, our boys were always busy outside and I only had small perennial flower garden that felt like my refuge. It was somewhat of an excuse for me to skip indoor chores.
Years later, we moved to a little house in the country and we slowly transitioned part of the yard into garden. We felt so fortunate from all the potatoes and tomatoes it gave us. Gosh, if I was going to spend time weeding the thing, I sure wanted more from it than enjoying just flowers!
At this time, my twin had a gorgeous garden with all the veggies and decor. I felt even more inspired to plant veggies that were initially out of our comfort zone. After discussions of should we do this or not and what can we start with, we dug our heals into it. After a few month of effort we produced our first crops of green peppers and cucumbers.
Eventually, we bought our current farm that we consider our retirement home. The previous owners were a Mennonite family that had a small strawberry u pick farm. The place had been mostly empty while it was on the market so when moved in the gardens had to be redone.
So we put our hands and heals into it and got to work. We had a vision of how we wanted to use the garden and before you knew, we were growing way more than we could use. Therefore we transitioned it into a community supported agriculture model. We retired from the CSA but we are still on our own garden journey.
We loved having the opportunity to serve many families in our local areas. Our mindsets have changed over the years from viewing a garden as a hobby to a way of life. So no matter where your garden journey is, ya just gotta start. Even it is one pot on the deck with a tomato plant.
Happy growing and get those 12 benefits of gardening!
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Great article. I knew I enjoyed gardening, but didn’t realize there were so many hidden benefits! We have a plot in the community garden by our house, and I’m really looking forward to putting in some more plants…as soon as we are allowed into it again. 🙂
Thank you Kirsten! Yes, lets hope the community gardens will allow participation. I am anxious to get into the garden and start preparing beds but it needs to warm up here a little more. Have you considered perhaps a small garden at your house just in case you can’t use the community garden?