Why? Why do you garden?

everything in life grows
accepting change is great
growing plants and watching them is like looking in a mirror

 

l like to watch things grow. love flowers all around my yard

 

I love gardening... the whole connection-with-the-earth thing... and there's a certain satisfaction of serving a dinner that you've grown entirely from scratch.

 

OK, first let me say, I know some folks don't like it when some one brings back an old post like I'm doing. I'm sorry about that but the question that is the title of this thread, "Why? Why do you garden?", has haunted me for the last couple years. I finally figured out the answer, plus some of the gardeners newer to this forum my want to contribute their answers.

I agree with and also feel the things so many others have given. The good, healthy food; fresh air & sunshine; the feel and feeling of working with the soil and plants; and since garden as part of my self-sustaining farm, I sure agree with the economic reasons to garden. But with all the other answers combined, I knew there was still another reason, I just couldn't "put my finger on it". Well, I was trying to answer a question from .Hannah., and I mentioned that in 1971 I inherited my Grandfather's collection of gardening books. That's when it came to me: I am a gardener now because of my Grandfather.

My Grandfather got me started in gardening by letting me help him. My Grandfather was a pharmacist, he owned his own "Drug Store", which in the 1950s included a big soda fountain, a toy department, bookstand, and medicine. He became a pharmacist in the 1920s and started out mixing a lot of herbal medications etc. He was not a rich man, but he had plenty of $$$, he gardened because he loved it. He had a big, totally organic, garden. He also had chickens for the eggs, meat, manure and insect control. He was a big time composter and got me started reading "Organic Gardening and Farming" magazine, now known simply as "Organic Gardening".

Every Saturday afternoon we would load anything extra there was from the garden, and we'd go to this one spot we'd always go to and he'd sell the extra. At the time, I couldn't figure it out. He had plenty of money, why bother. While watching him, I learned why. He loved it, the regular customers, talking & visiting with them, everything. Years later, I realized that it was also his escape from his business, friends and even the family. His own little world, with it's own circle of friends. It made his sharing it with me even more special.

I began helping him in 1956. This year I'm marking 50 years of gardening. And I owe it all to him.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

The chinese have a saying, "life begins when you plant a garden." That sums it up for me.

 

gardening runs in my family on my father's side. He taught me as a very small child about plants and growing things, and now that he's passed away, it's like my way of connecting to him. My father's father was a farmer, my uncle was a farmer, but there's more to it. Gardening is my meditation, my way of connecting to nature.


I have a friend who says gardening is our way of expressing our frustration at not being allowed to grow certain other plants. I think he might have a point there.

 

This sis the first year that I have done my own garden. At first, I started because i wanted good fresh veggies, But now I will keep doing it, because it feels good to play in the dirt, and end up with a healthy way to feed my family! I love gardening now, and I will do it every year!