Why do you garden?

Well...all of these apply to me,but I guess to perpetuate the heirloom seed is the most important.

all of the above for me too! but I voted for the last.

Just for the fun of it! and of course the beauty of it also! I never realized how addicted I really was until now. But the excitment of watching something grow from a tiny seed is soo amazing to me, isn't Mother Nature wonderful?!!

Yeah, I think I should have suggested an "all of the above" when I mentioned this as a possible question for the voting booth.

But if you had asked me a few years ago why I garden, I would have said purely for fun and relaxation... then I met some folks like PoppySue and Calalily and others, at this place called "Dave's Garden", and they got me hooked on seed trading; which got me started growing stuff to collect the seeds. Then a DG'er named Elena invited me to her home, and we swapped plants (one of mine for 10 of hers was the ratio); and I got brave enough to start trading plants with other DG'ers.

THEN I started lurking around on the Market Growers forum, and some members over there (I ain't mentioning names, but they rhyme with Pete2 and Horseshoe and Justmelisa) got me interested in trying to raise stuff to sell.

Oh, and then there were folks like Melody and Brook, with their exhortations of growing vegetables to save varieties for posterity, which sounded pretty noble AND interesting.

And we won't even mention my most recent incessant craving for daylilies. I'll let the rest of you enablers (you know who you are) remain anonymous for now, hehehe.

So, long story short, I think everybody here is to blame for this terrible addiction I now have - and I can never thank you enough :)

I do it mostly for the good stuff to eat, but also for the fun and then again, it's a stress reliever. Just whacking a few weeds is so relaxing.

I started gardening for the food and to save money on the grocery bills. Then I moved to a great place in the country and found out that the more landscaping the more the place was worth. Then I found Dave's Garden and now I'm growing very impatient for next fall. All I have now are seeds and lost of dirt waiting on spring so I can plant!! PS - and the relaxation and "quality time" with my son in planting and getting things ready. I just need a appointment with Gardeners Anonymous.

I wish Dave had given us the option to check all that apply. I garden for the food but also for the love of it, just planting "dead" looking seeds and having them turn into things like 6 pound cabbages, ears of corn, and flowers is a very amazing thing. The weeds don't thrill me so much.

I do it for fun and it is relaxing and the more garden I have with flowers and veggies the less grass I have to moe w

Well, I voted for the fun, but I wish there was a choice like "it's just in my blood". I can't look at a piece of land, bare window, seed catalog, discarded avocado pit without wondering what or how I can grow something. :)
Cindy

I voted for fun too! I love all the flowers! Gardening after a hard day at work is so relaxing!!

Plants are relaxing to me but I also like to raise things I can eat. Tomatoes, melons, peppers are my favorite.

There is nothing more relaxing than a stroll in the garden as the sun in coming up,watching the new day begin and listening to the sounds of the birds as they start their playful ways. The butterflies fluttering to the flowers and the bees gathering nectar in order to make it until the following year. By noon the aniamls are all busy and me I am in the middle of it all feeling and smelling the dirt and amazed at what great things we have been given. By 6 o'clock there is no better way to enjoy it all more than a George Winston cd,a hammock under a tall tree and a glass of mint tea. Yep just kicking back and gazing at the fruits of my labor. This is the perfect day and the perfect way to relax and think about memories of whats past.

All of the above for me but mostly because it is fun and relaxing. It is also rewarding at times. For instance this past June a neighbor lady stopped and wanted to buy some Black -eyed Susans for her daughter's wedding.turned out the dotter and bridegroom were coming here from Az to wed then going back out there to live. we wound up spending half a day selecting the flowers and visiting with the neighbor and the happy couple and their best man. I finally gave them the flowers as a wedding present and now have several new friends near and far away.

I garden for fun and relaxation, I own a garden center to support my habit. DH said our profits would be better if I didn't bring so much stuff home to plant. Now I've discovered brugmansias and I have to pollinate every bloom that opens.(I'm starting to feel like a moth)

I can't vote on this one because the answer just isn't there - I garden because I'm a farmer and if I stop, I'll lose my existence! It's also very good exercise for people with arthritis, and my grandchildren love to do it, we get great veggies, I seem to have a natural affinity for plant knowlege, I'm a dedicated flower addict, and being able to weed ambidextrously gives me two green thumbs!

Go-Vols, let me tell you about my old roses...

I had to choose between food for my family and just for the fun and relaxation. I chose food, as that's why I have gardened for years. Just this past year I got into flowers and it bacame more fun to garden, rather than a chore.

I do it just for the joy and happiness I get from the flowers blooming and being able to give to someone else that doesn`t have the ones that I do. I think there is something wrong with a person that doesn`t like flowers. I also plant vegetables because I like to walk out to the garden and pick ripe tomatoes-eat them right there or add a cuke, radish and lettuce and make a salad----right out of my own garden-anytime.

I garden for sanity =o)

I garden, for many reasons..the most important..TO NOURISH!!, Really..don't you think we're in our element..when I was nine yrs old, I remember trying to grow carrots from seed, not so much for the munching of them, but for the fact that I grew them!!! Looking at them coming up out of the ground was the bestest part!!!!! Elaine

I wanted to check the first two also, but chose the second as we are going to do the "victory garden " bit.

My option was the first one. No wonder such a great majority have opted that, gardening being the hobby.

I garden to feel the soil between my fingers (and toes). The warm,wonderful odor of it as I dig in with the shovel or trowel. The amazing feeling of accomplishment when I stop at the end of the day and see a freshly prepared plantin bed and the exhileration that charges through me like electricity when the first leaves poke up through the soil. Then there is the anticipation of seeing the plants mature and flowers burst into blooms as they fill the garden and assault my senses with their colors, shapes and frafrances. The amazing satisfaction of nibbling my way through the strawberries and the fresh taste of homegrown as it is served to family and friends. And if all that is not enough there is the satisfaction of putting the garden to bed for the winter and spending long winter days snug by the fire while I plan and dream about all the wonderful and exciting things I will add in the spring. AND! If all that were not enough I get to come here and visit with friends and talk about it!

I also garden mostly for the fun and relaxation, but also it feels soooo good to feed your family all of the great things you grew.I share with all of my family, friends, and neighbors too. I love giving away veggie plants in the spring, that I grew under grow lights and I enjoy having them all over to eat at the end of the year. I don't know where I would be if it wern't for gardening and this place. My job is very demanding and I am sooo glad to always have something fun and creative to do. It is soo rewarding!!! Just makes you feel so great inside.

Thanks, Traci S

It also saved my sanity, then I voluntered at a major Garden and found out I had so much to learn. I have gardened since a wee bit of a child, my maiden name was Gardner, it's in my blood, finger nails and toes, I love walking barefoot in the soil, I like the bugs, they are interesting as well. Now at 70 it keeps me limber, I contribute for the enjoyment of others, I teach children, it brings me joy, and fullfillment. I have gone through many stages of gardening from succulents as a child, V garden, tropical lanscape, sussulents, English, Rose garden,
succulents, Pelagonias, vegetables in container and back to succulents. I love it all, I like the sharing of seeds and plants, does any one out there want some Gasteria seeds?
Norma

i'm going to have to go with all off the above voted for number two but one is an important part off it and we also sell veg. and give to seinor center that does meals and i do save some seed for the next year

Several years ago the doctor said 'Jim find a hobby or die at an early age. Your blood pressure is way to high. Get a few plants and stand with a garden hose watering and relax while you're doing it.' I did and found it was better than playing golf. No bad shots, so water holes, no slices or shanks no woods or sand traps to avoid. Really rewarding as a hobby but I could do it for a living and hope to one day. Not in a big time way that would cause stress but enough to help with the social security check when I get that old.