Why you should start a garden
First and foremost it is a great way to relieve stress from your daily life while getting exercise.
The benefits from gardening will help you to get outdoors to improve your physical being as well as your mental being.
Gardening can be enjoyed at any age from 2 to the end of life and it will most likely extend your life by gardening.
The benefit of growing your own food is a healthy benefit since you know how the food was grown without chemicals.
The freshness of the vegetables and fruit you produce is so much better than what you buy in the grocery stores.
The cost for your garden is much less than if you were to buy organically grown vegetables and fruit.
Gardening is something you can enjoy with your spouse, children and grandchildren, bringing you closer together.
Let’s start with the health benefits
Eating a Mediterranean diet high in vegetables is proven to improve your health and extend your life. The best vegetables are the ones you grow since you know they are organic and fresh from the garden to your table.
You can burn 200-400 calories per hour when you are gardening, by burning that many calories per hour you can also lose weight or build muscle, improve stamina and improve flexibility. Gardening works every muscle in your body and will help to keep you fit.
The organic food you produce will be much healthier for you than store-bought vegetables and fruit since they have usually been produced with chemicals and have been treated with other chemicals to extend the shelf life.
By growing your own food you can grow what you enjoy eating and have an endless supply throughout the summer and fall and even stored for winter use through canning and freezing.
It is proven that gardening will enhance your memory and mood. Vitamin D through exposure to sunlight which increases the calcium in your body and strengthens your bones, be sure to wear a hat and sunscreen to get the benefits of the sun and not a sunburn.
There are studies showing that people who garden can reduce the risk of dementia.
Research shows people who garden are more likely to get a good night’s sleep.
It is much easier to eat healthy when growing your own food, and there is nothing more satisfying than eating what you grew.
If you have watched the news there are more and more issues with the quality of the vegetables and fruit we buy with increasing issues with bacteria and salmonella contamination. If you grow your own you can eliminate the chance of getting sick due to these issues.
Nutritional benefits
When you grow your own food you can test your soil to add the proper organic materials to make the vegetables rich in nutrients making the food better tasting and filled with proper nutrients for your health. Store-bought vegetables are grown to produce high volumes not necessarily high in nutrients. If you buy organically grown vegetables and fruit it still may not have the highest level of nutrients and you will pay a much higher price.
Having fresh vegetables and fruit that you pick out of the garden and eat the same day will be much more flavor-filled and nutritious than food that has been harvested days and weeks prior to arriving in the store.
Social and family benefits
Gardening is a great way to socialize with neighbors, especially for retired people that do not have as much exposure to meeting people.
Gardening is a great way to spend time with all of your family members. While you are gardening you can have great conversations with family members and build stronger relationships.
You can teach your children or grandchildren how to grow a garden by introducing them to grow vegetables they love to eat.
If you are like me and grow too much you can share with neighbors.
Cost savings for your grocery bills
Just go to the store to see the cost of organic food and you will see the value of growing your own healthy food.
Supply issues are important as well which drives costs up, when you grow your own you control your supply.
Instead of driving to the store spending time and money on gas you can walk to your yard and harvest the night’s meal.
Having a flower or vegetable garden will also increase the value of your home when you go to sell it.
Enjoyment of gardening
When you are working and the stresses of the day there is nothing more satisfying and mind cleansing than to come home and garden. Whether that is to clear your mind of all the daily activities or to just get your hands dirty and see something that you have grown.
When you grow your own garden there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your labor producing food that you, your family, and your neighbors can enjoy.
Growing flowers and plants can be just as satisfying to not just you but everyone that walks or drives by your house.
When you grow a garden there is the satisfaction and pride that you will have to have grown your own healthy food.
Environmental impact of growing a garden
By growing an organic garden it will reduce the chemicals being put into the soil.
The reduction of contaminants going into the soil and running off into our streams and rivers reduces the pollution of our waterways.
Gardens help to cool down the environment, reducing the carbon footprint.
It can reduce negative environmental impacts by promoting sustainable agriculture.
Gardens attract bees and other insects that are critical to our environment.
Let’s recap the reasons to garden
Gardening is an adventure that will keep you learning something new every year, from new varieties to grow that surpass the others you have grown, to ways to improve the production of your fruit and vegetable plants with new techniques, to how to combat the pests that are attacking your garden without using harmful chemicals.
It is a passion of mine and I am sure it will become a passion of yours once you start your gardening adventure.
Build memories that will last you and your family a lifetime
Improved physical and mental health
Socialization with family, friends, and neighbors
Reducing your cost by growing your own food
Enjoyment of gardening
Gardening to go to your happy place
Positive impact on the environment
Improved sleep after gardening
Sharing techniques with others and gaining new gardening ideas from them
Start your gardening adventure now to have a life filled with the satisfaction of growing your own food and sharing it with your children and grandchildren to introduce them to the joys of gardening.
