Why garden? I don’t know why other people garden. Sometimes I’m not sure why I garden. It’s a lot or work for produce cheaply available in the market.
Then again, much of what I grow is not in the market, cheap or expensive. Perhaps that is an answer to Why garden? There are so many available varieties.
Exercise?
Tillers, hoeing, weeding, planting, picking all provide exercise. These can strin the back, ruin the fingernails, wear out jean knees and more. They do burn off a lot of calories.
Some of these methods are long since discarded in my garden. Tillers are verboten. Hoes are used sparingly. I prefer potato forks, weeders and mulch.
More to the point, gardening gives a way to destress. Mad at someone? Pull some weeds and pound them to loosen the dirt in their roots. Feeling blue? Enjoy creating color and food.
Health?
More and more I hear this answer to Why garden. Market produce is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. Seeds can be treated as well.
All these chemicals do provide those perfect, or close to perfect vegetables we get in the market. They cut down on any actual work such as weeding, cultivating and mulching not really feasible on huge scales.
So, is home grown produce really better? It can have fewer chemicals dumped on it. But, is any place really chemical free?
Probably not. Manmade chemicals are in the rain, the air. Watering hoses shed them. They are found in the remotest places on Earth.
The only advantage is having fewer chemicals in my organic garden. Since the insets take their toll on my produce, the chemical load must be less.
Why Garden?
Thinking about it, I garden for many reasons. One is having many different tastes and vegetables. Another is the exercise and mental reflection time. It’s nice to have fewer chemicals on my food.
Most of all, I garden because I love cooking up a dinner of produce I just picked out in my garden.
