9. It excites children. My daughter LOVES "her" garden! We have been walking past our containers all winter long and she sadly says, "It's not growing daddy." She was quite the helper during the growing season as well. Something else I've noticed is that when kids see the produce that they're used to seeing on the shelves of their local grocery store actually growing on a plant, they are filled with questions and awe. Teach them where food comes from!
8. I needed a hobby. My life is stressful! We are always running around from this to that. Wife's schedule, my schedule, kid's schedule, BLAH! Being in your own garden is a calm that you find few places. 30'mins a day can be more relaxing than a therapy session with your shrink...and you get tomatoes!
7. Sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Taking a plant from seed or seedling through a season and seeing tangible, measurable results is satisfying. In most of our professions we drill away at computers, calculators, documents, etc all day long. This virtual online world is not built for us to hold a finished product in our hand. Maybe that's why we aren't satisfied at our jobs, we don't produce anything!
6. More vegetables=better health. Unless you're in the habit of throwing a lot of food away, if you have fruits and veggies around you'll eat them. Right? It's hard to turn down those tomatoes and hot peppers when they are ripe on your vines. I'll spare you the HUNDREDS of reasons to eat more vegetables, but if they are already in your yard, don't you think you'd eat it?
5. Saves $$$. As a budget nerd, this one is huge for me! I'll stay with my tomato examples. The average price per pound of tomatoes is around $2.99 in my area. Let's be conservative. If you only planted one tomato plant and conservatively only got ten pounds of tomatoes, that's $30. From a seed that only costed a fraction of a penny! My household didn't buy a single tomato, hot pepper, or any herbs from a grocery store for almost 7 months! So how much do you want to lower your grocery bill?
4. More variety in my diet. You ever notice that the produce section of the grocery stores always seem to have the same old thing? Same boring broccoli, same two kinds of tomatoes. BO-RING!!! There are hundreds of varieties that you'll never know about unless you grow your own! Spice up your family dinners! Get growing!
3. Pick only what you need. I despise throwing food out from having it go bad. Herbs are a particular nuisance. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a bunch of cilantro for some salsa, only to use 1/4 of it and have the rest go bad. Well, if you have a cilantro pot in the backyard, you can pick the little bit you need and leave the rest to keep on growing. More $$$ in your pocket and less waste!
2. I can influence the food industry. With all the talks of GMO's, food borne illness from food processing plants, and on and on. I can tell the multi billion dollar industrial food industry NO! I am growing my own, I am not as dependent on you as you think I am, I don't want your "pseudo-food products!" Stick it to the man!
1. Finally, and probably my favorite, having a surplus of fresh delicious food almost forces you to learn more about food and cooking. After all what are you going to do with all of those tomatoes?!?!?!? What if you extended the use of your produce through the winter by learning how to jar your own tomato sauce or salsa? Ever had a homemade pickle? How about delicious frozen blueberries that you grew in your garden just waiting on your next smoothie concoction? Make your own herb infused oils. Learn about juicing. I could go on, I'm gifted in speaking, lol!
So this is why I choose to garden! Did any of these compel you? Why will you take it up? Don't be scared, get some dirt and learn as you go. Happy planting!
KD
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