Why do you garden?

All of the above!

All of the above.

For fun,Because it is my Hobby.
Yasir

And Yasir, yours is truly an amazing hobby! Everyone should check out his cactus/succulent collection--it's huge!

Thanks Kywoods
Yasir

I would rather be outside doing anything, but gardening is the most fun. If we get to vote on answers, I vote for Jianhua. Elegant answer.

FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!
jon answer was very elegant!-what a guy!

without the garden-id get into so much trouble with so much time to waste!
it does calm the soul for sure!!! I do a lot of thinking in the garden

Mostly all of the above, just no profit. :)

"For my health". Years ago, it was a beautiful, spring Saturday and my family was sitting in front of the tv watching cartoons. We could not afford a vacation or much of anything recreational. I could not stand to sit in the house on such a beautiful day. I went in my yard and started picking up rocks in the yard. Days later, my folks came to visit. Dad planted white zinnias in my empty flower bed. In no time, I had many blooms and people complementing my beautiful white flowers. The zinnias went to seed and I had gobs of goldfinch. That year, a gardener and a birder was born! It has given me so much pleasure and peace of mind. When I am in my garden, I am so aware of all the beautiful birds and flowers God created with little in put from me. You know the song, "In the Garden": ' while the due is still on the roses". I forget all my problems and am happy and content. Last spring, I was working in my garden. I sat on the lower tier of our deck steps to rest. As I sat there quietly, five beautiful, male indigo buntings hopped around eating seeds. "Priceless!" There's no better way to find serenity than in nature.

God's Garden
THE Lord God planted a garden
In the first white days of the world,
And He set there an angel warden
In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren,
For there in the cool of the even
God walked with the first of men.

And I dream that these garden-closes
With their shade and their sun-flecked sod
And their lilies and bowers of roses,
Were laid by the hand of God.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,--
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

For He broke it for us in a garden
Under the olive-trees
Where the angel of strength was the warden
And the soul of the world found ease.

- Dorothy Frances Gurney

What a wonderful reason for your gardening, birder17!
Wonderful story, Mau! :)

Thanks, Tammy-- the poem said it better than I ever could.
--Mau

You are so welcome, Mau! :)

I voted "food". When I began gardening just a few years ago, I was all focused on maximizing our space and canning/freezing the goodies. Colour me an analytic. *winks*

It didn't take long before the joy crept in. The delightful smell of tomato plants even long before they held fruit, eating tender sweet peas right out of the pod, having fresh basil at my fingertips, experiencing the thrill of walking through the veggie garden to see what was ready for dinner that night... I even began to dream about gardening in my sleep. *smiles*

I cannot imagine life now without gardening being a big part of it!

i garden to lose myself..........whatever that means!

Trackinsand ~ I know full well what that means!

*grin*

Yes, to lose yourself or to find yourself.

Oh how true!! Well said!

I chose "other". I garden primarily for others to enjoy.

I chose other because I do not always find it fun in this zone and with this soil but I HAVE TO HAVE SOMETHING OF BEAUTY TO LOOK AT AND SOMETHING ARTISTIC TO TAKE MY ATTENTION AND EXTRA ENERGY, I love to know that if I do not have a dime to go anywhere, I can go outside in my own yard and smile at what I see right here.

Fun, because I'm a work a holic and gardening fits the bill!

Lea

I voted food, but I sure have fun in the garden, planting seeds in the late winter inside and watching them sprout. Watching the bees and other insects at work, holding a handfull of earthworms that are cultivating my gardens. Planting enough so even the wildlife will leave some for me to gather.

Watching the kids and grandkids and folks go through the garden and pick and eat right off the vine. Planning for a better garden next year, get excited about a compost pile, even work fish compost tea, now thats really lovin your garden :P.

Canning /freezing and seeing all the jars of good healthy foods. Giving fresh veggies to those that can't garden . I love the whole wheelbarrow full of gardening.

This message was edited Jan 12, 2008 12:25 AM

I do it for LOVE, the purest love I find anywhere☺

"♥Love given TO the Garden and Love given BACK from the Garden♥"

I have gardened for over 50 years, so I could have also picked all of the above. I don't know any other way to live. Marsue--that is my favorite poem, however I never knew the first part of it! Thanks so much for posting.

I can say I garden for my health and fun... it keeps me sane .... and I love the outcome

Gardening is therapy for me. I'm happiest in the summer when the sun is out, the air is warm and my hands are dirty. Growing plants feed my soul.

My feeling exactly NS! I don't feel well if I don't have the NM sun on my face some part of each day. It is physical and emotional therapy for me.

Glad you liked the poem, Cactus. I didn't know the whole thing, either, until I "googled" the line I did know and found the entire poem with the author's name!

It's good to see you posting. I've missed you! :o))

I voted other because gardening provides food not only for the body but for the soul.
It is my joy and respite from care ...every day of my life.
chrissy

other, for the "eye candy" Patti

I actually garden for fun but for me gardening is a great stress reliever. I really like
how a small garden,a few pretty planters and window boxes change the looks of my
home. I am a long haul truck driver and working in the garden gives me plenty of
exercise and a way to relieve my job stress. As when I'm weeding every time I pull
a weed I think of someone in dispatch or a broker I don't like,lol.

I get all kinds of ideas in my travels and some of the sights are absolutley beautiful. Going thru Louisiania once I see a house with a brick path and an arbor covered in
pink mandavilla.

I garden to create beauty in a world that desperately needs it.

I voted for fun, because it is more fun to eat good, delicious, fresh, organic food & to be healthy (mentally & physically) than it is to eat things from a store and be unhealthy from eating all kinds of junk food with additives.

I voted "other" because you didn't put "all the above" for a choice. With the exception of "for profit" I do garden a little for each.

I am you and you are me and that feels divine. I plant seeds and check everyday to see if they have sprouted. The anticipation is like a kid who cant wait for Santa Clause. A part of my work used to be microbiology. I even got the same excitement when I streaked a specimen onto a plate, incubated over night and could not wait to "see what grew" on the following morning. I have gardened since I was a child 60 years ago and one would think the "magic" of it would fade but it doesn't.

steadycam, I know the feeling. I still get excited see seeds sprout that I placed in the soil with my hands. I know my hands didn't do the trick, and that there is lot's more involved, by I am amazed everytime.

I garden for the learning experience! It is a challenge. I love learning new things and nature is full of learning opportunities.

I live in an area that is overrun with deer. When I moved here, everyone (current people whose yards had been done years ago!) told me that you could only plant 3 things that the deer wouldn't eat: lantana, rosemary, and yaupons. It was Fun for me to do research and find new "deer resistant" things.

So...I guess the challenges of gardening...of caring for something alive and sometimes "needy" is fun for me.
Add the fun of getting it all "right"...the large plants in back, medium in the middle...etc. so that it still looks good in several years.