Why do you garden?

Hi all,
Well its a question we garden people are as the norm only asked by people who visit "and your always in the garden or doing something to do with the garden.

Ive been asked what i get out of gardening so many times "i could go blue"

Well here's my reply "but" lets hear yours.

I like gardening and the country life scene because you can enjoy gardening as a loner or as part of a team or family,
when im gardening half the time my minds some place else,

I do enjoy producing good food and not only eating it soon after its gone into the kitchen but eating chutneys/jams/stews/soups ect months after i'd harvested it.

The feel of the season's the wild life that appears as your in the garden,

Even the bacon toasty and coffee made on the old camping stove in the shed, It all has a place and a meaning,

You go as fast or as slow as you feel you want to go, and that deafening silence that only peace perfect peace can bring.

At times world war three could have started "i would'nt know"

And then the times i see the evening news and see the state some people get in, killings by young people, muggings by people who need to take drugs and need money to feed the need and to hell with the victim.

People who go on T.V talent shows tobe " known, rich, wanted"

Well gardening to me is all the things these people are looking for except i dont need fame or to be rich, to take a drug to be happy,

Ive the lot and it hurts no-one.

If i can get one person to take a step in my shoes and try the gardening and just see why i garden, I think they'd feel good about life.

Whats your reason for gardening?

 

The question you are asking moonraker is " why do you garden ?" NOT " what do you get out of gardening". So, why do you garden?

 

Sorry for being pedantic.

 

if I understood that statement Dai I could respond

 

Apart from the sense of having created something. Well that's not exactly it. More like the sense of having influenced the development of something, my reasons are as follows.

1) Fresh air and relaxation. I'm not talking about relaxing physically. Quite the opposite. In my line of work my muscles have very little to do. I'm a computer programmer. When someone offers me a seat outside of work I often decline, with the joke that 'I sit down for a living'. While my muscles are doing next to nowt, my mind has work really hard doing unnaturally logical abstract stuff, and it makes your brain tired. When I come out of work, weather permitting, I'd rather be outdoors making my muscles work while resting my brain. I firmly believe that you can't truly rest unless both mind and body are equally tired. Gardening gives me that.

2) The communal aspect. I've spoke on a level with people young and old, experienced or beginner, all the gear or just a cheap B&Q spade. Nobody judges. Take any other activity. I also like to ride my mountain bike. Its a cheap bike and I don't have all the gear, so if I encounter a gear snob (there's a different term, but I can't use it here) they would usually not even acknowledge my existence. I also like to walk in the countryside. A friend of mine once actually got told off (for real) by some couple who had all the maps and waterproofs, because my mate was wearing trainers. You don't seem to get that snobbery with gardening. Or if you do get some garden related snobbery going on, it usually comes from people who aren't themselves bothered about gardening (I get someone in to do mine, so I expect you to make your garden how I think it should be - type of attitude).

 

Food is the important bit of Gardening, but its not the total reason.

I love seeing things come on, especially in the early part of the season, gives hope for getting out of the dark.

The bugs, the wildlife, the not knowing what unexpected thing is going to self seed itself. The Pigeons.

 

My gardens do not contain food plants. So I can't say I garden for fresh food.

My gardens contain flowering plants/shrubs. Why, I garden, it is simply helps my stress level. My job is nuts. I love being outdoors, hearing the birds and seeing the new babies (plants emerge) I also like seeking out strange unusual plants that will work in my zone. And enjoy sharing my gardens, via You Tube to the world.

 

Fun, fresh food, wildlife, excercise, etc. If it was just about cheap food I'm sure I'd be better offer getting Super 6 from Aldi.

How about this one? Mountain Bike Club wouldn't let me ride my unicycle on club rides (that's deadlydes of 'turbo cider' fame)

 

I 'garden' because if I didn't, I'd have nowt but a jungle of weeds and tangled grass to look out on!

Apart from that, I do it because I like ...

the look, colour and smell of flowers
sitting somewhere pleasant watching the sun come up (or go down),
the peace and tranquility
listening to the birdsong
watching things I've planted, grow
picking bunches of flowers for the house or friends
making compost
eating my own fruit, veggies and herbs
making jam and jelly from my own fruit
the smell of newly mown grass
pickling or bottling my own produce
the inherent satisfaction of seeing it looking neat, tidy and colourful
the exquisite feeling of slipping in a hot bath at the end of a day bending

What more reason could you have for believing that 'God's in his Heaven and all's right with the world', than when sitting in a peaceful garden, surrounded by living, growing plants, listening to birdsong and watching small fluffy clouds drifting across a blue sky? Aaahhhh.

 

Very hard question to answer clearly every day could be a different reason!
Being bought up on a small mixed farm with a longing to get back to how things used to be.:yess:
Being close to nature.
Enjoy fresh food.:WINK1:
the sense of achievement when something goes right.
The peace and quiet (sadly shattered about 3.30 when parents meet kids from school not sure who makes the most noise!)
Somewhere to escape to when down hearted about life and lack of wealth, I soon have happy thoughts even when the sun isn't shining.

Be it a pint of bitter,cider or a glass of wine nothing is better than sat out surveying over ones land feeling like a lord,or depending on the psyche at the time a desert island my desert island.

 

i do love the taste of the fresh produce and i like a pretty garden but i think it mainly is that i used to work in hot sweaty kitchens and i just love being out side in the fresh air i dont really care what the weather is doing either, now i work in the care sector and it can be stressfull/ sad at times
but in the garden my mind just goes into neutral mood and i just chill out (even if i have been doubled over digging all day )

 

Basically, i'm just obsessed with growing things and watching things grow and then enjoy looking at or eating the outcome!

Hence the reason at the moment i am so overwhelmed by the variety of seeds and plants on offer and i don't know what to do first!

Gardening is all the medication i'll ever need!

 

I think it's the boy scout in me that's never grown up. I love being outdoors and seeing then wildlife. That's why I became a professional gardener.

What other job would make it possible for me to discover over-wintering ladybirds one moment then have a Honey Buzzard land in an oak tree beside me the next? And of course, there are the plants too!