Why do you garden?

[fixer]

Although it seems such a simple question, I found it to be not easily answered. As I was reviewing my records from last year, I decided if I was doing it to be frugal I was failing miserably. The money spent to keep animals from using my garden as an all-you-can-eat salad buffet will take years to recoup. It really didn't matter at the time. I enjoy gardening for the challenge. Few activities are more pure than growing ones food from the soil. Dw was determined for me to find a hobby and this is it. I will preserve all we cannot eat simply because I cannot stand to waste anything. I am proud I can grow my our food. It makes up the backbone of our stockpiling effort. We are never even close to running out of food. The answer for me was more complex than I ever thought it could be.

[The Muse]

I garden because I enjoy it. I'm not sure it saves me money, but I enjoy growing my own, organic, non-GMO produce. I'm ecpanding my garden this year and I'm learning to can, so who knows? This could be the year I break even!

[Ceashels]

When I didn't garden last year I realized how much I missed it. I missed the freshness, the dirt, the work, the sunshine, and the rain. I garden because it is part of me and my relationship with what I consider to be my hearth/home. I love the idea of growing my own food, and now with dehydrating and my budding preserving skills I can be more efficient at storing my extra. In some respects it is frugal because it saves on our grocery budget, but the costs of amending the soil expanding the garden, etc has to come from some part of the budget as well. I think once it is an established garden with fewer needs/purchases for materials it will become more frugal for us too.

[ri*smom]

Hmmm . . . that is a complex answer. On an obvious level, I enjoy the self-sufficiency and artristy of gardening (and it is not necessarily a frugal endeavor for us either). On another level, I enjoy sharing the simple beauty of it with my kids. They love the garden and getting dirty and picking fresh veg for dinner. And on the last and deepest level, I enjoy the mystery and miraculous nature of the whole process. It fascinates me to watch a network brown sticks fill with delicate white blooms that metamorphose into teeny-tiny apples. Much like it fascinated me to be pregnant with both my precious babies. Amazing and miraculous and fascinating. However, I can only talk dh into a garden every year . . . wee babies? Not so much. Even as darling, fascinating, and perplexing as they are.

So my short answer: it is rewarding, and enjoyable, and spiritual for me.

[Sassyclass]

I don't have a vegetable garden because we rent. I do however have flower beds. I love the solitude I find when I'm sitting on the ground digging in the dirt, pulling weeds or just marvelling at the beauty of something so small. Even on rainy gloomy days just walking outside and looking at my blooms can cheer me up. It's my gift from God and I thank him for it.

Cat

[redmaples]

For me, the reasons for garden are straight forward & simple.
In a complex world, being able to grow our own food is something that makes sense. It is empowering.
It is using natural resources wisely, being connected to nature &. less dependent on the food industry.
It is a grounding activity, yet also a spiritual connection to be in good relation with nature.
For some of us, it is a thread of our heritage that we are holding onto. we still have the hunter/gatherer instinct that motivates us to provide food for our families. We are still part of the cylces of nature & that becomes an important part of how we order are life.
This spring greening, I believe, is a strong call to growers & gardeners to be involved with the cycles...to get the seeds & plants in & do what we can to get things growing.

Green blessings of Abundance to all of your gardens!

[sabrelvssammy]

i guess its coz i like being outside in the warm sunshine and the dirt....the fact that something 'pop's out of the ground (sometimes) is just icing on the cake.... i have gotten just as much enjoyment tilling the space for the last few weeks (6 times...)....(weird huh)....but on the same note...why do i sit in the yard for hours on end and pick the dandelions out one by one (my neighbors AND DH ask me that one).....it's one on one with nature and that beats spending my time in a shopping mall anytime....

[NewLeaf]

I have a tiny garden 8 x 13. Our little backyard is enclosed w/chain link fence so we grow vining vegetables all around it. I converted part of the flower beds into veg. beds. So over 1/2 of our tiny backyard is garden now and the other 1/2 is swingset!!

The reason we started gardening was for a hobby - about 15 years ago. We started w/tomatoes in containers and it kept getting bigger. There is something about growing food that gets you closer to nature. And the overall good feeling of producing good things to eat for our family can't be beat.
When we had our first ds I wanted him to see where food really comes from so we started a strawberry patch in the spring and a pumpkin patch that summer.
We only get to grow enough to eat during the summer, but it satisfies at a deeper level than that.

[vigilant20]

There are SO many reasons! I want to grow my own food, save money, and beautify my yard. It's enjoyable and good exercise. I like learning more about the plants and different methods of gardening.

I also think having plants has always appealed to me in the same way a simulator game does. I can take care of each one and make sure it gets what it needs...control it's little plant destiny, as it were.

[Grainlady]

You bring up some valid points. I doubt people ever figure the cost of gardening AND the cost of home food preservation (freezing, canning, drying, fermenting, etc.). More often than we think, it's NOT less expensive and not necessarily frugal, although there can certainly be frugal gardening.

Example:
- a 10-cent package of leaf lettuce and spinach (usually purchased at the end of gardening season - on sale - or someplace like the Dollar General Store). Can easily be grown in pots and planters without the benefit of a large garden space, is VERY frugal and requires very little effort and space. Even if you paid $1.50 for a package of seeds, you aren't saving as much for the yield you'll get with the inexpensive seeds, but you'll still save over purchasing lettuce from the grocery store. Plus, you can plant early spring and late summer for double crops.

-Last summer I grew about a dozen plants of amaranth (which got to be 12-ft. tall) from seed I had in my refrigerator from amaranth I purchased for use from the health food store. I was curious about seeing if the seed would produce for me... We used the new leaves on the young plants for greens. After the first hard freeze I harvested enough seed from those plants to last us for a couple years. It makes one great high-nutrition cooked cereal and I use it milled into flour and the whole seeds added to baked goods like you would use poppy seeds. A wonderfully frugal plant.

A major expense of our gardening/landscaping was our water barrels/containers (1,000 gallon capacity) and all the things that it took to put it together. We designed ours for the long-haul (this is our 3rd summer using it). It will take several years to off-set the expense with water savings, but it was less expensive than using city water or having a private well dug (and it's on-going maintenance).

I've taught home canning classes over the years, and always emphasize it's more about enjoying the fruits-of-your-labor and enjoying the process, because it can certainly cost more than purchasing commercial food. I can purchase a 15-oz. can of sliced pickled beets for 67-cents - so I don't go to the work and bother of growing and canning them myself anymore. If you need to purchase all your equipment for home canning, utilities to not only heat process food, but also utilities to cool your house because of all the heat-processing during the hottest time of the year; or you have to purchase the food to preserve - all need to be figured into the price of the finished product along WITH gardening expenses.

Personally, I find some natural pull by Mother Nature to get outside each spring and get dirt under my fingernails while I prepare a garden. I enjoy the nurturing and caring it takes, and the plus is the enjoyment of the freshest produce possible.

[thefrug]

I garden because I was meant to. Ever since I planted my first flower in a pot years and years ago, I knew that I was meant to have dirt under my nails. Now, the fact that I can supplement our food from it is an added bonus. I amend our soil with my rabbit's droppings. And the rabbit eats from the garden when it's growing season, so it's kinda like recycling! Theres nothing like seeing the food you grew, stored for your family's use in the winter months. It's even better than seeing a stocked pantry IMO. I'll be saving seeds this year so, what I paid for seeds this time should be the last for some time ( I'm hoping).
And actually, we humans were meant to be hunters, gatherers and imo farmers ( just an extension of gatherers).

[Gardengal18]

Gardening is my thing! I love being out in the warm sunshine and playing in the dirt lol! Also, I'm slashing my food budget and I know exactly what I am putting on the table as far as fruit and veggies are concerned. What I don't grow I get from Local Farmers which is a lot cheaper than the 'grocery store'.

[IntlMom]

Simply because I enjoy it.

I wasn't exposed to garden growing up, and I am not very good at it.....but I enjoy the whole process - Nothing, I mean NOTHING tastes as good as a juicy, fresh, WARM tomato!!

[MoonMommy]

My mother always had a garden. When I was growing up, I always helped her.

I love love love putting my hands in the dirt. It gives me alot of peace and makes me feel one with the earth when I am planing either my garden or planting trees, shrubs, etc.

I also love being able to go out and see the fruits of my labors. Some years I get a lot, some years, the animals and bugs eat better than I do. I don't stress about that because I find so much enjoyment with the process.

[Contrary Housewife]

I like being able to walk out the back door and grab a salad for lunch. And nothing beats the taste of fresh RIPE tomatoes.

It's certainly NOT because I love getting bit by chiggers, or getting muddy, or enjoy pulling crabgrass.