Why do you garden?

Definitely I garden for the fun and relaxation. For me it is a stress reliever to reconnect with the soil. I'm a country kid transplanted a number of years ago to the urban office jungle - arghhhhhhhhhhh! Thank God for cars and gasoline - if I couldn't live in my village and commute to "the big city" for work I think I might go insane.

Strictly for the pretty of it:) And an occasional tomato if my luck is running:LOL: I've always been encouraged to garden since I was a child. I drifted away from it when I was in my late teens and early 20's and gradually drifted right back into it.

Relaxation and fun are tops, but food for the family was a close second. I love to cook and starting in the garden with a harvest is so much more fun than opening the fridge.

I voted other, because the main reason is stress management. I know for some that might fall into "fun and relaxation" but for me, it goes further than that. It's my "happy place" to get away from work stress, home stress, any other sort of stress (and I seem to have a lot).

I garden because it completes me, and is as essential to my well-being as air and food and never do I feel closer to our Maker, than when tending my plants.

It soothes, inspires, thrills-and at times-momentarily defeats me;but not for long.

Gardening teaches me patience and perseverance. It's a constant challenge, but the rewards are too numerous to mention.

It's an obsession, I admit; albeit, a healthy one. I also love carring on my family's tradition of canning and freezing my own produce, as much as space permits-and I love beautifying my little corner of the world with flowers and foliage.

As you've already figured, I've voted "Other".

Other ~ for mental health and well being and general sanity! The peace and satisfaction received can be found nowhere else in the world but outdoors digging in the dirt...

I checked "fun and relaxation" . . . but I really wonder if "relaxation" is exactly what's going on sometimes. . . like when it's almost midnight and I'm still standing in my kitchen sowing those seeds into their little trays. . . or it's 85 degrees F on a Summer day and I'm sweating away tossing compost. . . or it's a sultry August day and I'm anxiously brooding over the roses' blackspot and planning revenge. . .
But if asked why I subject myself to all this, I'd insist that "it's fun!"
I'm gardening in a new zone, so there's a bit more anxiety about getting it right. . . but it's still fun. And when the warm soil pushes against my toes as I walk through my tomato "patch" and note how many more maters have arrived overnight, or I watch the bees rumble busily through my lavender plants, or EVEN when I see chewing insects having their way with my plants. . . I know I am privileged to be a part of the great cycle of life.

I voted for fun and relaxation; however, I can not "not grow". Grandma taught me as a child and don't know any other way of life that keeps me more grounded. I HAVE to have a veggie garden, cut flower garden, flowers around the house in the yard for the hummers, butterflies and all other birds, house plants, trees for special needs, yada yada yada!!! I feel like the luckiest person in the world to occupy this one little piece of geography and try to keep up what God began.
The older I get (age 65) I just say thanks everyday for getting to garden one more day!!!!

I could analyze for ages about why I garden and still not be able to come up with a concrete answer. It's become like eating, breathing and sleeping for me now. I just NEED to do it.

I actually find a great sence of artistic satisfaction in gardening, but I voted other because I really don`t find it fun or relaxing where I live and in all the homes I lived in here in the desert, I have had to start from scratch which is frustrating and quite the opposite of relaxing. I think having myself surrounded by something beautiful and different is relaxing, it makes home take on a new meaning. When a garden is established and mature then, it can be fun and relaxing to do for me. I just love to create and scetch out what is in my head and ooh and ahh about it years later and say well done to myself now that is apiece of heaven but my yard is so far from that now. lol

You all put it so very well that I'm hesitant to add my two cents, but I'm also a blabbermouth, so here goes...

Its a challenge, but it gives back even when you don't "win". I pleases the eye, the soul, and the tummy.

When frustration is rampant, its better to beat clods of dirt into soil than to beat anything (anyONE) inside your home.

It feels so good when you're done.

I love my garden, with all its pests and problems and wonder.

I am constantly amazed at the beauty in a growing plant, and how unique each one can be. I marvel at our Maker's handiwork, each intricate detail so perfect. I find a great sense of joy at each new bloom. DH says it's almost like having babies to me. Digging in the dirt is definitely therapy for me, and the rewards are beautiful flowers, some of which stay in the yard and some come in as cut flowers, for all to enjoy. I would love to have a small veggie garden for fresh produce; maybe next year.

Yes to all four choices ;-))

I love to garden 'cause I'm a glutton for punishment.
At least, that's how it feels on some days - oh, my aching back,
my bruised knees, my pricked fingers and my scratched up
arms and legs. Wouldn't give it up for all the tea in China. :o)

I marked other for addiction.

LOL, that too, snboyken - that too. And I love being broke
'cause I couldn't resist some plant and the pot to put it in.

Addicted nature lover here, too.

I learn so much about the plants using the reliable hands-on method!! Learning comes in at a close second to fun and relaxation. You can even learn about weeds when you're gardening. I think it is a great experience.

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Pic shows some pansies ... Delta Pure Deep Orange & Delta Premium Pure Lemon ... last year before it got too hot for them.

What about "Brain Washed" ? Gardening - is just about all I can think of doing.

Passionate about growing things, especially daylilies and bearded irises. I also enjoy selling and trading my increases so I can add more cultivars to my hobby gardens.

I started out with a small vegetable and flower garden and now just have flower gardens - many of them. Never seem to have enough! I enjoy fresh bouquets in the house and at work and also sharing them with others. I enjoy the beauty they bring to our home and yard. I enjoy helping and "teaching" others, and the constant learning process I experience, about all the plants. I also have a large library of gardening books and subscribe to many gardening magazines to get me through the months when I can't be out in the gardens.

I haven't read this whole thread, but I garden for stress relief, and for the pure joy I get when something grows and does not die. I just don't have enough land to plant everything I want to grow!

I love working in dirt. There's something primieval, back to roots about it. No electronics, cars, loud televisions, nagging wife - it's just me, the soil, and tropicals.

It doesn't get any better than that.

Steve

I find it's a terrific distraction, I'm relaxed and happy. I escape!

I love to be outside in my garden mostly because it is peaceful, and looking at all the beauty. I love plants that are different, and enjoy experimenting also. For example, this spring I planted two mexican palm trees, two windmill fan palms also in my front yard, along with two oleanders, and a camellia. I am hoping that they will work, as I will provide covers for them to winter in. I did some internet research, and found that windmill palms have been found in Spokane, WA which is colder than our Eastern Washington location. I find serenity outside, and the hard work is worthwhile. I also admit that there is a certain addiction to being outside, and being able to let go of all the tensions, and worries that people tend to get. I love the birds, and watching the animals.

I voted Other = All the above!

I voter other......

I love to grow flowers although my knees ache/get stiff, have Multiple Sclerosis, which means I get hot very easily, get tired/worn out very easily and my movements are slowing down some, but I'm trying to grow flowers and plants that are less maintenance to me.

Of the flowers I grow each season, I try and grow the ones that will attract the Hummers, other Birds and Butterflies the most. It's very rewarding to see them in the yard and garden. We also feed the song Birds year 'round.

I love to see, touch, smell and 'drink in the beauty' of the flowers! When I can't be outside in the Summer because of the heat, being tired/worn out, I'm in the house with the AC on cold, resting and catching up on Dave's Garden! Of course, I'm on it every day too!

I also grow flowers in containers and I love potting up annual Salvias to attract the Hummers more and just to enjoy the Salvias. I love Agastaches and Salvias! This year I found an item to make my containers lighter, save time and money on potting soil! They are Ups-A-Daisy Planter Inserts! This will be my first year using them and I'm looking forward to it!

http://www.ups-a-daisy.com/servlet/StoreFront

The 'saying' that "One is closer to God in the garden, than anywhere else on earth" is a great and 'true' feeling!

I love flowers (the many colors too!) and growing them and I'm addicted! I gotta be out there growing and tending to them!

Marilyn



This message was edited Mar 28, 2007 11:49 PM

Good mental health. So restorative.

Nifty, did a wonderful double take on your reply above - love the use of HER. Many thanks.

I love playing in the dirt I guess I'm just a kid at heart.

I have to have plants in my life. They keep me sane in this crazy world. If ever my plants are not blooming and healthy than my spirit is in a very bad place. A favorite peom of mine......

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robbins in her hair

Upon whose bosom snow has lain
Who intimately lives with rain

Poems are made by fools like me
But only God can make a tree

by Joyce Kilmer

Fun and Relaxation - and guess what else? I like to pull weeds when I'm upset - I take it out on the weeds instead of other people. ;-)

Looks like Dave needed another category for some of us! I, too, chose Other because I garden to surround my home with beauty. I got a great deal of satisfaction out of harvesting my own vegetables last year, but if the plants had had no beauty in them I wouldn't have planted them. I intend to be carried out of this house feet first, and I don't give a snoot what the real estate agent will have to do to the house to make it salable. What I want is to drive into the driveway and rejoice because the irises' colors explode against the white siding, or to sit in the living room and admire the rosebuds against the window screens, or to spot the very first crocus blooming as I drive out, or to admire the rabbit, whose family shares my space, eating his share of the wild strawberries in the back yard.

I love to grow plants, seeds and all types of flowers.when i eat an fruitI will save the seed and grow it.I just recently grew an mango seed.I get a lotof joy from all types of flowers. but I just recently bought a paddle plant but I do not understand what is meant by pinching or where to pinch the plant at. I am not an expert at flowering I just love the joy they give me.

Fancyflea ~ Thanks for the poem by Joyce Kilmer.... I grew up with that inscribed on a wooden plaque that hung by the door on the porch. I remembered only a portion of it and needed that trip down memory lane. Thank you!

Time stands still ....for a while
This was published in the Gardeners almanac a couple of years ago, but..still stands now for my favorite part of gardening...is that it seems like time stands still


What most of my friends don't know is how time stands still during those beautiful spring days and they seem endless as I'm covered from head to toe with dirt, then at the same moment you’re sad because the light is fading signaling the day’s end,” says Randy H. of Houston, Texas. “

Rj

I wanted to check them all. We DO eat what we produce, I LOVE to have curb appeal, I LOVE to bring my bouquets in for personal enjoyment, I LIKE the exercise I get.

The most important reason for me to garden is to teach others to do so. Especially the children. If we don't start teaching the kids, who do nothing but play their video games now, how will we sustain the future? Seriously. The only gardening I did as a child was with my grandmother and that was by choice. By the time I was 13, she couldn't do it any more and I certainly had no interest. Children today need to learn what resources are available to them and know that food doesn't grow at McDonalds. The food on our tables comes from someone who knows how to grow it. The blanket and clothes that keep them warm comes from someone who knows how to make them. We have to teach our future generations to carry on without the technology.

I have to change my answer to E: ALL OF THE ABOVE

I checked "fun and relaxation", but it's really all of the above. As I type this I am covered in dirt, my sweaty hair is pulled through a baseball cap and I have scratches on my arms and legs, dirt under what's left of my broken fingernails (and a towel on my chair)!

I'm in heaven!!

There is no stress, no deadline, no phone, no tv, nothing to distract me from my idea of relaxing. I love the planning and then that "pop" when suddenly you see the next step...stepping-stones there, a vine here, a new bird bath over there...the creativity never ends! It's amazing - I've learned how to use my imagination again. I love all kinds of flowers, passion vines, orchids, shrubs, hedges, canna lilies, hostas, succulents...the list goes on and on.

I get tons of exercise and I don't need therapy - all I need is dirt and something to plant!

Sharon :)

My sentiments, exactly, Sharon....