When I was a kid, I worked on a farm. Part of my experience included planting and maintaining vegetable gardens. This past spring I did something I haven’t done for many years. I planted a garden at home. I found this to be a wonderful and freeing experience. To plant a garden is to plant life. Today, I’ll discuss 5 reasons to plant a garden.
I’ve always loved plants and gardening. Like many of you, I put off starting a garden for many years. There were two major reasons: First, I claimed I didn’t have enough time. That might have been true at times, but more often it was a lame excuse. Second, I was a renter. I bought a home in 2013, and even though I have a mortgage payment now, I have found homeownership to have its advantages. It allows us to have a stronger sense of home and part of home is developing your outdoor surroundings.
Make Your Yard Come Alive: Plant Life
If you’ve considered planting your own garden, I would like to encourage you to start now. Over the summer, I discovered many reasons why I believe everyone should have a backyard garden. I’ll limit this post to five:
- When you plant a garden you plant life: What could be better than bringing new life into your yard and home? Planting a garden does exactly that. First, you must prepare the life-filled soil. Then you must plant the living seeds. Finally, you get to watch new life grow before your eyes. It’s a wonderful feeling. See Leonard Nimoy’s last tweet: “Life is like a garden.”
- When you plant a garden you plant responsibility: When you plant life, you plant responsibility. I have a 10-year old daughter, Annie. She helped plant the garden. She helped weed and water. She helped harvest fresh berries and green beans. This is teaching her responsibility. But don’t fret. A small backyard garden is not too much responsibility. I only spend a few minutes each day caring for my garden.
- When you plant a garden you plant freedom: My little garden won’t self-sustain my living. But it’s a start. When you plant life, you plant freedom. You won’t have to rely on other sources for some of your food needs. I was able to skip several trips to the market because I simply went into the backyard and harvested beans, potatoes, and corn. Next year I’m going to increase the density of my garden and create more freedom.
- When you plant a garden you plant awareness: In this modern era of automobiles and computers it’s easy to lose touch with the Earth. Planting a garden gets you back in touch with the dirt. There is a spiritual power in gardening. Getting your hands and feet in the dirt creates a connection that has slowly dwindled over the past 50 years. Plant life and reconnect with your awareness of nature. Discover the healing properties of dirt.
- When you plant a garden you plant fun: It’s not a theme park or a live concert, but gardening is fun, especially when you teach your children to garden along side of you. You plant togetherness when you plant life. Working together can create hours of fun and undistracted bonding time with family members.
Plant Life: Start Your Garden Today
Right now is a great time to begin to prepare your garden. You can select a small piece of your yard and prepare it for the spring. You can research the kinds of fruits and vegetables that best grow in your region. Get your family involved. It can create hours of life-lessons and fun for everyone.
