ANOTHER POST IS NEAR THE CENTURY MARK, our second in 7 months here on A Way to Garden. The first was Garden No-No’s; now here comes ‘Why Do You Garden?’ to challenge its lead. Why do you garden? Is it for astonishing plants like these Martagon lilies, or for solace in troubled times, or for fresh food to stash in the freezer to get you through a long winter’s nap? All good reasons, but perhaps they are not yours. So what is it? Won’t you tell us?
‘why do you garden?’ nears 100 comments
October 25, 2008 By 184 Comments
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I am a newbie gardener, having started about a year ago when we moved into a new home. I live in the center of Houston, so mine is a backyard garden, though I’m also growing native Texas plants in the front. I grow veggies and herbs because I love the smells and tastes of fresh food. Farming is in my DNA, as I come from a long line of farmers, and yet at 52 I am just getting started. Watching seeds sprout, watching them grow, harvesting–I love all of it. “excuse me, dear, I have to go outside and fetch dinner.” Priceless.
Welcome, Nadine. Priceless is right! Glad to have you here among the gardening fold. Here’s to the coming spring!
I agree with Nadine. It’s wonderful to “go outside and fetch dinner.” But even more than the harvesting, I love the planting. Digging, preparing the soil, planting the seeds and transplants, labeling where necessary. It’s very satisfying work. Very calming.
Being outside and smelling the dirt is an aphrodisiac. It’s the best high I can think of. I give my trees names when I put them in the ground and keep a gardeners journal so I can reflect back on days gone by. A perfect way to air my head out.
I garden to provide beauty to my yard, to provide habitats and food for the birds and other small animals and to perpetuate the species of flora. I garden for exercise, as I have always hated going to the gym. I garden to get outdoors and get my vitamin D and for the satisfaction of completing a task like weeding or mulching. As an avid photographer, I garden to make beautiful blooms to photograph and to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I garden to maintain my home’s curb appeal.
Welcome, Allison, who enjoys having a camera in the garden as I do. Nice to meet you!
Little bits done outside become gorgeous by just stepping back & watching it happen. Plant a seed, or prune a few twigs & green just happens. Housework can’t compare. Everything done inside just needs to be done over again, and again….
Welcome, Grandma Ann. “Housework can’t compare” made me smile, thank you. Come back soon again with more wisdoms!
Gardening inspires me, bringing out the best of me and it makes me feel alive.
Welcome, Aimee. Me too! Good description of how gardening affects me. Thanks, and come back soon to say hello again.
I garden to be still. It is the only time my brain isn’t preoccupied with what isn’t ‘NOW.’
I garden as an act of worship to God.
Welcome, Glenda, and thank you for your beautiful answer. See you soon again, I hope.
I work seasonally at a garden center to get a jump on the season in those greenhouses.
I find it mentally relaxing, and physically stimulating. Also I am always reminded of a dear long gone grandfather, who could grow anything and everything.
Welcome, Suzanne. Sounds like a heavenly way to spend the transition season. My grandmother could grow anything, too — I can still visualize her garden, all these years later.
First visit to blog. Just what I have needed so sent note to both my daughters to join me here. I don’t garden consistently. NOW RETIRED ON OUR FARM 17 acres. We have so much to learn. Greenhouse waiting, time on my hands, and daughters with passion and experience. Where to start. WITH AN OVERALL PLAN of some kind. I have had a “veg/flower garden” in my head for 3 years. Need an orchard, small. Want to use greenhouse. We have a business raising landscape shrubs (have learned to clip/feed/weed). BUT FLOWERS, FOOD……MUST GROW…it completes my circle of life. I will read from end to end your blog to get started. I feel really odd right now like I know you in some strange way. Your blog is written for my head. SO lucky are we visitors to have your experience, passion, charm at our fingertips in a more profound way than thru your other work…Really…. Boy do I have a lot to read, learn, and start doing YEA…THANKS YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW TERRY
You are welcome, Terry, and hello! Tell the whole family. :) I hope you continue to find what you need, and also visit the book blog while you are here. Sounds liek it might be your kind of story.
I garden because I must… I am propelled to spend my days outdoors by the change in season, the fresh air, the scent of the turned soil, the miracle of seeds sprouting and growing into a plants which will, in turn, provide me with sustenance… I can’t help myself!
I garden because it is the ultimate creative outlet. It is a big canvas upon which I can express myself, and I can enjoy the fruits of my labor as I study the views from my table at dinner or sit out on my deck on a summer night. It helps me appreciate the natural world and my place in it. It reminds me that ultimately I am not in control, that things aren’t all up to me. It’s spiritual for me too, because I am always reminded of the phrase, “Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return.” And I think of all those before me who have come and gone (and gardened) and have very fond memories of all of them.
I garden because I work in an urban school district where I often deal with tragic things. I see children addressing adult situations and I try with all my heart and soul to help them. Sometimes the outcome is good and sometimes the outcomes are not so good. On those bad days I garden to take me away form the real world and to show me what life really is. I garden to heal, to show me life, and growth. I like to watch my children play there, in the grass or wandering around trees , investigating the flowers. For a brief moment my garden makes me stop thinking and to hope again. I garden to breathe.
Welcome, James. I cannot imagine a better answer, thank you. Hope to see you again soon, and that there are many good days between now and then.
I am a therapist who works with very damaged adolescents. My garden is my therapist, keeping me centered at the end of each day and refreshing me with stolen moments over my lunch breaks. (I am fortunate to work just a few minutes drive from my home!)
I moved to a new home and blank outdoor canvas in March of 2010. While I enjoyed my gardens during the decade I lived in my first home, I was not a diligent planner and they really got out of hand. I had 4 months from March to June during which I was able to divide and transplant from my old yard to the new one. It was an amazing opportunity to start over on a budget! This go round I am planning each phase of my garden while still leaving room for surprise & spontaneity.
I just discovered your blog today while watching your appearance on Martha Stewart Living. I look forward to learning from you!
Welcome, Tony. “My garden is my therapist” is very well put! Exactly. Your new home sounds very exciting, and though I would never move, something I want a blank canvas, too — I get overwhelmed by all the old clumps of things in need of division and am not sure where to begin some days. :) See you soon.
There are so many reasons I garden, the exercise, the beautiful flowers and foliage I get to bring indoors in arrangements but I think for the most part I am a plantaholic! I just can’t help it.
I also feel good that I have helped a few families of frogs, birds, butterflies, possums, rabbits and chipmunks live on.. but also sometime annoyed with their antics.
I have been inspired and enjoyed your work over the years from Martha Stewart Living Magazine and totally enjoy your blog. I live in a neighborhood where a lot of lawn and nothing else is the trend(probably because it is rural Georgia and it is not the most condusive soil & weather to gardening) and I always feel much better after visiting A Way to Garden because I can relate to all the struggles that come along with the desire for a beautiful garden i can “take refuge” in.
Thank You for all you do!
Welcome, Bernie. “Annoyed with their antics” is about how I am feeling, yes. And I do so identify with the thought of taking refuge. Exactly!
I live in the center of my 6 acres of thick spruce forest, 200 miles from the nearest city, in interior Alaska, where the winters get 60º below zero and the days get short. I garden because it is my way of creating…order from chaos, civilization in the wilderness, adding brilliant color to the background of green that surrounds me in the summer. It gives me a reason to spend long hours outdoors when our summer days get long, and I don’t have to feel guilty about neglecting my house because I’m being “productive”… growing things that will fill my freezer and basement shelves for the winter. I garden because I love to feel my hands in the dirt and to hear the sound of the birds and squirrels in the woods around me. I garden because it feeds my family and feeds my soul.
Welcome, Sharon. Sounds like you live in a bit of heaven. Wow. I so understand your answer, and also the great “full pantry” feeling and your take on feeding yourself and your loved ones. Wonderful.
I just stumbled upon your website and am so thrilled! I am an avid gardener and cannot read enough. I garden in the mountains of the western part of Maryland in the foothills of the Appalachians. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner, wife and mother. I have a large raised-bed garden that my husband built me, complete with an underground watering system. I grow everything possible in my 28′ by 14′ space. Outside of the garden on the long end, I have 2 espaliered apple trees and 3 dwarf blueberries. I have a raspberry bed by my driveway, a butterfly garden and extensive shade garden since I live in the woods. Yesterday I came home with a tension headache. I am not much into medicating every ache and pain, so I slipped into my vegetable garden and began puttering around. Within 30 minutes, my headache was gone and I felt ready to tackle dinner. Gardening means fresh food year-round (I grow veggies from early spring into winter with coldframes, and grow lettuces and herbs in my laundry room during the winter because we get a lot of snow and cold); no worries about eating spinach and dying from E. coli or eating unknown pesticides, and pleasure and relaxation. Looking forward to exploring your entire website. My garden is needing my attention now, gotta go!
So glad to welcome you here, Carolyn. Your place sounds great, and so does your approach to it all. I find nothing more restorative than my connection to the garden, and sounds like you agree wholeheartedly. See you soon again, I hope (if we can lure you indoors again ever, tee hee).
I garden because I must. I found myself being home for 2 weeks lately. While I didn’t get much done indoors, the Seattle weather has had a turn for the better with 75-80 degree days. I would hurry up to eat breakfast, sometimes eating so fast I’d give myself the hiccups, picturing myself pulling on my old jeans with the holes in the knees (must get patches on them) and sliding my Felco holster onto my belt. Is my favorite T-shirt clean? If not, I’ll pull the one out of the laundry basket from yesterday as it didn’t get THAT dirty. My next ritual is putting my shoes on — all my old running shoes are piled up in the garage and I choose the ones that didn’t get wet from the day before. I step outside in my stockinged feet, tiptoeing around the wet pavement around my potting bench and I sit down on the stone steps leading to my upper garden to carefully pull the laces loose and slip my shoes on. Ahhh! Finally on to the first project.
What a wonderful website! A friend told me about it and I shall visit it often! Thank you!
Thanks, Joanie, and welcome. This all sounds vaguely familiar (love the “it didn’t get THAT dirty…” kind of thinking, very funny). See you soon.
I garden because I am a gardener; not my profession (that would be a programmer/analyst working for corporate America), but how I identify myself.
I am currently reading your book and could not wait to check out your website.
Thank you, Diane, and I am so glad that it sounds as if you are enjoying the book (or at least enough to come here and say hello). It’s how I identify myself, too, so I do understand. See you soon again, I hope.
Wonderful site – nothing else like it,
I garden for all the reasons mentioned previously by the other gardeners. But the surprising thing about gardening has been the other places it has taken me. I garden in the Pacific Northwest so I have found a real kinship with gardeners in the British Isles and their gardening culture and the history of gardening all over the world. Gardening has improved my painting and provides for a important partnership with my husband. And most recently it has brought me to your blog. In the past I have found my garden mentors and compatriots in old books and british videos. I have been gardening for over 20 years and have never really made the internet/gardening connection, until now. I had never really found a site that captures the soul of gardening. Well done.
My wife makes me – but that is ok, I need the exercise and I love being in the beautiful space she has created.
Hi, Wes. Good answer. :)
Thank you, Denise, for the kind words. The PNW is one of the meccas for gardeners, that’s for certain. Lucky you!
My Mom and my Grandma B were both avid gardeners …my earliest childhood memories involve holding a flashlight and a bucket on late summer nights as my Grandma made us co-conspirators in her quest to dig up native Lady’s Slippers that grew in the quarry near her home (completely illegal in Manitoba). My childhood is filled with memories of begonias, tiger lilies and peonies. I have been gardening for close to 25 years now. In the beginning it was a way to feel close to those two women that I loved dearly and lost. Then it quickly became a passion, a way to find hope, strength, peace and beauty. I fully credit my gardens for saving me mentally and spiritually…Now it is a career that I adore and I feel so incredibly lucky and grateful that gardening and landscaping has become such a huge part of my life. Thank you for this site – it has inspired me on many occasions!
Hi, Brenda. How nice of you to share that story — and also offer such a nice compliment. Hope to see lots of you here in 2012.
Ah, Brenda…. that is really a wonderful story of gardening!
WOW- what a question!! Why do I garden? So glad you asked! I garden because i MUST. I am always designing or creating something. In winter I will be painting one of my rooms a new color and re-arranging furniture…then as soon as it’s nice out I am outside everyday I can be (and letting the house get dirty!).
Gardening is my passion and my gift. My husband loves it too (he won’t admit that to people -but he does!) He just asked me if we can make our spring list of new projects to do outside!.
To find something that you are good at that you also LOVE is the best reward in life.
To be able to do that with the person you love is twice as rewarding.
Gardening is so fulfilling…and is NEVER FINISHED! Other people may think thats a bad thing….not us gardeners. Who can imagine awaiting a spring with not one new thing to plant!? horrors!
Thank you for getting me through the winter with your wonderful website and your gorgeous garden.
I love to garden because it is the place I can find magic in this world. Working with the Earth, learning to understand rhythms and parameters of nature. Part art, part sustenance, pure magic. Every time I plant carrot seeds, those tiny little specks, I am amazed to see little green heads popping up. Tending a garden requires some “work”, yes, but to me it is pure play to spend the day in the sun in the realm of the bird, bee and butterfly.
Thanks, Kim, and welcome. Me, too! Well-put. See you soon again, I hope.
I garden for many reasons. I actually chose my house in part because the backyard seemed to be the perfect blank canvas to paint nature’s masterpiece. It was just big enough to do something with but not over whelming. I find gardening to be exhausting, relaxing, and most of all rewarding. My vision for my yard is just beginning to come to life. I love spending time enhancing its beauty and then capturing it with my camera.
I am looking forward to learning more and sharing with other gardeners.
Nice to “meet” you, Teresadawnwagner, and hear your reasons for gardening. Thank you. Sounds very familiar (right down to the camera!). See you again soon, I hope.
I grew up gardening alongside my mom and my grandma. I adored the irises that were handed down from generations – and even get to enjoy them in my garden in New Jersey, which is distant in so many ways from the farm in Ohio where I was raised. Seeing the poppies grow makes me think of my grandma Unger and makes me feel more connected to my family. Gardening is food for the soul – it’s a time of feeling connected and in balance. It’s renewing and refreshing. My dad always said he chose to be a farmer “because it’s in his blood”. I guess there’s a little bit of it in my blood, too. My farming just happens to be a few veggies and some flowers on a 1/4 acre outside of New York city.
I just read your book, which I treasure and it helps me immensly in my crawl towards retirement. I’m a hughe closet gardener and I love the comments and the sharing of the real gardeners. Sometimes something resonates close to my heart and retreives memories of my grandmother’s garden and her pots of herbs and flowers (everything had a use). I love this community you have created and the way it blooms and bares fruit, and I can’t help but keep on planting my dreams for that garden that may just someday become real. Thank you, thank you, thank you Margaret.
You are welcome, Daisy. How nice of you to say so — and I am so glad you enjoyed the book. Very sweet comment.
Why indeed! I may have been born gardening! Some of my earliest recollections are of plants, trees and the sensual experience of flowers. I recall playing with maple seeds, like helicopters falling from the sky, picking daylilies and other wild flowers with my great aunt at the tender age of four or five, noticing the heady odor of privet hedges in bloom along a Brooklyn street back in the late 40′s, being fascinated by the fancy “tongues” on each Rose of Sharon and how the bees loved to venture inside the flower, and coming face to face with a praying mantis that hung on the arbor vitae that lined the walk in my earliest home. These experiences led me to become a Wild Woman, a gardener.
My garden now resembles a living memoir, I can stroll around and recall so many memories from earlier decades. There are plants from long ago gardens of people I loved and lost, gifts from other gardeners, so many stories, so much joy. I garden because I can’t imagine not gardening!
I garden because the warmth of the sun, the cool touch of a breeze remind me that there is love and hope for the most dark and depressing situations. I garden to create beauty that my soul craves. I garden because I can. I garden because I can’t not garden.