Why do you garden?

[hippywife]

For us, gardening isn't just about having the cleanest, freshest, tastiest, most nutritious food, altho that is definitely of prime importance. I got to thinking about this alot lately. I've been doing a whole lot of reading about sustainable agriculture, as well as alot about the unsustainable type. For us, growing our own food is also a political statement, a way to take pesticides, herbicides, petrochemical fertilizers, and diesel fuel out of our diet. To shorten the distance from where our food grows to the plate. It's also a hedge on the not so distant future when food shortages become a reality for many more in this country than it already has, many of whom have little or no practice at doing things for themselves.

So why do you garden?

[asdjrocky]

1. What a great question.

I'm sure that after giving a brief answer, I'll come up with a hundred others later. This is my first garden and as I've said before here hippywife, I just love it.

For me I can call walking down the street a political act, as I'm such a political animal. I love reusing things, paying attention to what I take out of the world, and what I'm putting back in. Making dirt. (Yes, I'm absolutely absorbed in composting.) So far I've had green beans, lettuces, crook neck squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and one green bell pepper that fell early offthe vine and I have to say, it's been the best stuff I've ever tasted. I don't even like green beans, but I love my green beans. Perhaps that's the reason.

And I love to give food away to my neighbors and friends. That may be the reason I do it. To see someone smile with you hand them a few cukes or a mess of green beans makes it worth all of the toil.

Then there's the smell. You know it. It rushes up to you from the damp soil of the morning or the dim and dark dust of a dry sundown. When the wind blows right you smell petunias and that minty scent of the bushy tomato plants. That is undoubtedly the reason I garden.

But then, what about the way the wind sounds blowing through a few rows of sweet corn. Or smiling through a report about the dangers of our food supply.Now both of those are stand up reasons.

The truth be told though, the reason I started gardening is because I started digging a hole, and I don't know how to stop.

[GardeningGal]

2. It's my therapy.

While my gardens are nice, I'm not a fanatic about them looking perfect. But I like to get out and get my hands in the dirt and feel the connection to nature. If I had the time, the space, and the money, oh boy what a sanctuary I could create!

[EstimatedProphet]

3. The big driving force for me was simply growing my own food

I like the idea, and it gives me pride of accomplishment. Also there is the organic aspect, and the idea that I am providing for myself so that there is more to go around.

[Raven]

4. Making something from almost nothing was the first draw for me

and then it became therapy. For me, there is just nothing like sitting in the middle of my garden early in the morning withe wonderful smells and sounds around me. I have discovered that I love to weed and when I weed, I meditate. I would say that gardening is about as close to God as I'll ever get.

[Summer93]

5. Connection with nature

For me it is first a spiritual thing. Hands in soil is connection to a Higher Power then me. It feels good. It is renewing each day. Now I am planting all the food/flowers that please me and not what something else is trying to sell me. Go away corporations. I have something better here in nature. Organic food is so superior to what is offered by the corporations.

Now on my deck I have planted from seed, a pot of herbs, one of swiss chard, the colored type Two strawberry plants and a hanging planter full of red petunias. All of these have pounded by hail nearly every day for the past week.

I also have in my yard raspberries, asparagus, and rhubarb that keep coming back each year. What a pleasure.

[ailsagirl]

23. Well-put... ditto for me :)

[ThomWV]

6. Cause all that damned dirt out there ain't doing anyting of its own accord

What else could I do with my time that is so productive and at the same time so satisfying? Masterbation lacks productivity and praying is devoid of satisfaction.

[noamnety]

7. I guess the same reason we do our own laundry

instead of sending all of it out, or pack our own lunches instead of buying it at a restaurant or cafeteria everyday.

For me, it's more a question of why wouldn't you?

I don't get what makes people plant a japanese maple that doesn't support the ecosystem or them, when they could instead plant a fruit tree in that same spot.

[Lisa0825]

8. Store-bought produce tastes like wax.

I know I should eat more veggies, but the prices keep going up and it killed me to pay so much for things I don't even like that much. I love tomatoes, but the ones in the store have hardly any flavor. So, I thought I'd grow my own tomatoes, and if I grew other veggies myself, maybe I'd like them better too. I grew up on canned veggies, which is probably why I don't like them much.

So I guess you can say it started as a combination of wanting to be healthier, have more flavor and beat the high prices. I knew it would be an initial investment, but once I get good at this, it will be worth it.

As I started thinking about it, other reasons were there too... no pesticides, better for the environment, political statement, hobby, etc.

[Blue Gardener]

9. Been gardening since I was a tot

I guess it's "in my blood". I do mostly flower gardening, plus a few tomatoes and cucumbers. Seeing the flower beds in bloom is just awesome. The zinnias and coneflowers will be in full bloom in just a few days, and the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds will be filling the gardens with activity. What more could you ask for on a beautiful summer day?

[shugah]

10. several reasons

all the ones that you mention - particularly the part about taking the poison out of our food.

and i just love my garden. it makes me happy - i'm not exactly sure why. i sometimes just sit in the yard and look at it and think "wow! that is a beautiful garden!" i'm going to have to think further about this - because if it weren't for this "i just love my garden" feeling, probably none of the other very important reasons would compel me to do it.

[DrDan]

11. a just-picked fresh tomato right from the garden with a couple of eggs and some whole wheat toast

heaven

no other reason needed

[LiberalEsto]

12. Because it's there

I see no point in having a perfectly manicured grass lawn, when I can instead have a yard filled with flowering shrubs, annuals, perennials, trees, vegetables, herbs, native wildflowers and blueberry bushes.

Going out to pick a sprig of lemon balm for iced tea, or mint for my daughter's fattoush salad, or nibbling on a fresh-picked Sugar Snap pea are some of life's greatest little pleasures.

Smelling hundreds of roses, watching butterflies play in the buddleia bushes.

Enjoying the first daffodils, the heavenly scent of lilacs, the amazing blue of morning glories, the brilliance of late marigolds.

Picking ripe tomatoes with that indescribably musky taste and slicing them with basil leaves and a bit of olive oil, then dunking good Italian bread into it.

Picking a colander full of green beans, some tomatoes and a couple of jalapeno peppers and turning them into a simple vegetarian curry.

Snipping some fresh chives into a pan of scrambled eggs.

Making Hungarian cucumber salad with home grown cukes and dill.

Digging fresh sweet potatoes out of the earth for Thanksgiving dinner.

I have no use whatsoever for fancy cars, jewelry, designer clothes, or a McMansion. To me, wealth is being able to dig in my own garden, and enjoy the things I've just described.

[murray hill farm]

13. All what you all said......

and that it connects me in a way that no other thing can do with not only my earth, my planet and my universe, but with myself as a part of it all. it feels too like a connection to my grandparents who were farmers and who loved the earth. When I am with my garden, I am with them in my heart.

[bhikkhu]

14. for me, the same reasons and agreement with everyone upthread

I have always loved to be outdoors and the colors and smells of the garden bring back all kinds of memories of the best of my younger days.

I love the idea of self-sufficiency, which I think of as the type of "freedom" most American, and most worthwhile. I can give to others while taking from no one.

The food tastes so good. My current favorite is fresh lettuce from the garden, and I have enjoyed salads every day for a couple of weeks now. Snap peas and onions and other greens go in my stir-fry, and I'm looking forward to fresh tomatoes and cukes and melons and all the other things growing now...

But mostly I think I garden because I have kids, 8 and 12, and if I could chose just one enjoyment of mine gardening would be it. I think it will benefit them well throughout their lives, at least as well as it has benefited me.

[bearfan454]

15. I love eating tomatoes and peppers.

Canning and salsa are something I like to do. It's fun having a garden too.

[uppityperson]

16. Because.

I eat food so like to grow some for myself, provide for myself. Because it is good earth stewardship, increasing soil health and being part of the cycle of everything. I used to enjoy trying different plants, experimenting, recently have been not experimenting so much though. I like to be part of the world, putting bits back into Earth, taking bits out. I like the control, guiding through the uncontrollable. And it is magic to take a seed, plant it, then have it grow into a beanstalk with dinner on it.

Also, the veggies are local, I know what went into them and they taste different as well as being more nutritious. AND, if all else fails, I can live off my garden for a while. May be boring, but I can do it.

My question would be why do you not garden. The times I haven't I have been too busy hectic with other things and have missed it.

[Inchworm]

17. At first it was because it seemed like a waste of land not to

then it was just to see if I could

Now..
I like learning. Every day is a learning experience out there :)

:hi:

[NJCher]

18. to create places of mystery

All of the answers on this thread were so compelling. I enjoyed each and every one of them. I am going to save this thread because it is so intriguing, sweet, and touching. Some of the descriptive writing is beyond comparison to anything I use in my writing classes.

I am in complete agreement with how good it makes one feel to work with the soil and to use the land in a productive way. There is nothing like that and that is for me the most important reason to garden. But I don't want to repeat what others have said, so...

Another of the reasons I garden is to create places of mystery. I love those places I call "gardening moments," where when one catches a fresh glimpse, the effect is mesmerizing. I had a couple of those moments yesterday. One was when I was hanging a basket off my terrace. It was a huge basket of purple and I looked at its surroundings and saw vinca vine tumbling vigorously down from the terrace up a level. In the midst was this beautiful basket hanging from black wrought iron. I stood back and the whites and silvers added a frosty element. Beyond that the scene was framed with huge, 70-foot maples, pines, and linden trees. It was so beautiful I felt like I just wanted to jump into the scene and be one of the plants!

Another moment was when I glanced out my bedroom window and saw that my rhododendron "forest" was in bloom. This is a large cluster of old, gnarly rhodos but they still look good. They were covered with pink puffballs of blossoms and they looked so pretty because the lawn, the background, had turned a bright chartreuse. It had just rained and you know how rhodos respond to a cool rain. Wow! What an effect!!

I think that is one reason I love my property so much. It is so full of these places to create "moments." I don't need or want to go anywhere. I am just happy to be back here in my private sanctuary, creating beauty and mystery with plants.



Cher

[Shoelace]

19. I must have been a farmer in my last life

I figure it must be so since I was born with a love for growies. My life long love has led me to try growing just about everything - yea, even that!;-)
It's all about getting the hands into the dirt, watching seeds sprout, grow into trees, potatoes,whatever, and my new trial and error thingy, Mangos, Papayas, Ginger.
Not an easy thing to do in Oregon but the only thing I've not yet tried to grow.
Gardening keeps me healthy, keeps my local nurseries going, keeps my spirits up too.
I just never met a growie I didn't love except crabgrass of course.
Thanks for asking and what an interesting lot of replies there are! :grouphug:

[Kolesar]

20. Financial independence

I have this long term vision of putting up winter squash, root crops and onions. If I want to add an energy input, I could can green beans, tomatoes, and more. If I had a wood lot for heating fuel and a lot of photovoltaic panels to run the electrics and charge up my future electric car, I imagine that I could live the lifestyle I am living. A realist target would be that I could cut my food budget in half.

It is responsible for us to take the pressure off of the world's food systems by growing as much of our own food as we can in a low-impact manner. You all should be proud of yourselves.

[momto3]

21. I do it for pure enjoyment and satisfaction.

There is something infinitely satisfying about starting with seeds, nurturing the plants as they grow and then being able to feed my family from those plants for a good part of the year.

[Dover]

22. All of the above .^.

Except for the ones who had a financial incentive.
Money has never been a primary incentive for anything I've done
and yet it's always worked out well.

Gardening brings me into the natural rhythms of life.

[RedLetterRev]

24. Because I'm an old Appalachian hillbilly and I 'spose it's in my blood

I grew up with a garden and I just never got used to eating the cardboard crap that comes from grocery stores. A little over a year ago, my partner and I found a foreclosure on 8-3/4 acres of land in a very, very rural (but blue!) county in NC and decided we'd had far too much of city life. We returned to our country roots, started growing our own veggies again this year and are thoroughly enjoying rejoining the land. We've embraced reduce/recycle/reuse to a fine art, produce very little waste and are starting to enjoy some of the benefits.

Ain't nothin' like a fresh, real mater :)

This year, we've got red beans, black beans, cowpeas, white half-runners and great northerns. Next year and succeeding years we'll be cutting back to heirlooms, mostly varieties of crowders and greasy cut-shorts (being a hillbilly, those are my very favorites). We're interested in non-patented varieties that will breed true year after year.

We're using up the corn, squash, okra, cucumber varieties that we have, but from the looks of it, it will be some time before we run out of those. My garden is currently 65'x65', but come fall time it'll expand to about 80'x80'. Again, I'm looking for heirloom varieties of each of those for next year. The fall garden is looking to have spinach, mustard greens, rape, lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets, and I'll see what else is lurking in the chest I've been saving up for the last few years. Some of those will go through winter since what passes for winter in NC is fairly mild. My grandma used to have at least snow peas, cabbages and beets through the winter up in the mountains and it's a lot milder here in the central part.

In my orchard, I've got some heirloom sweet cherries and peaches, just enough for feeding us and for barter with neighbors. We also have some kiwi vines and pomegranate trees maturing since those are pretty rare around here and useful for barter. I'm trying to sprout some more heirloom cherries; we'll see if I meet with any success. I've been promised some plum sprouts come fall time.

I've got no desire to keep bees, but some of our neighbors do. They're willing to trade honey for some of our blackberries from our blackberry orchard. (They've just started coming in and I've never tasted sweeter, oh, m'lordy!!) Barter in small, rural communities isn't dead. With a rotten Bush economy and dismal looking times ahead, those who can barter produce will likely be the lucky ones.

More than that, I love touching the face of Mother Earth and coaxing living things from the soil. There's such a peace I find in the natural world, whether it's producing a pretty tomato or a pleasant bed of flowers.