Wednesday 1 July 2009

Why do I garden?

I was complaining to a friend that with all this hot and dry weather we have been having that I’m having to water every day. To which they replied ‘Why do you garden then if it’s such a chore’. That made me think! Why do I garden? I garden because the thrill of watching things grow, the excitement of sowing seeds and seeing them germinate, the joy of picking food from the garden to eat that night, the calm of walking round the garden observing the changes and listening to the birds make my life complete. I have always been a nature lover right from childhood when at the age of seven my favourite lesson was the nature walk to observe at first hand the falling leaves in the autumn, the first snowdrops, the berries on the trees and the frost in the winter on the puddles. I was ever the eager child bringing found items to put on the nature table and as I grew older and became involved with our garden at home I began to love the gardening cycle of sowing, planting and harvesting. Because my father was such a gardening guru when it came to vegetables, they have always been my first choice of plants to grow. We grew so many vegetables that on our yearly trek to Cornwall in the summer to visit the grandparents, there would be no room for us kids as the back of the car would be filled with sacks of potatoes, bags of peas, loads of apples and much more. We did the three hundred mile journey perched on top of these delectables, albeit on cushions! No wonder I was always car sick as a child! :-) But being back in Cornwall was fun, and we were there for two or three months, so it was worth it!

I garden so that I can have visions such as these,cucumbers and garden

and also to have the doubtful pleasures of watering daily in hot weather! Mainly so that my garden doesn’t turn into the Sahara as it is trying to do at the moment! This was the dark, dank and very wet spot in the corner! DSCF0031

So why do you garden?

10 comments:

  1. I garden for similar reasons as yours Val, without the garden I feel dead. I begin to go stir crazy penned up inside - even the nights are tough for me, I get bored far too easily just sitting inside doing very little.

    I'll pop inside, check the net, then ten minutes later shut the laptop because I'm bored again and go for a mosey outside again :)

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  2. I have to do it because I like it and it likes me making it lovely.

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  3. I garden because I love to see all the flowers blooming in the Summer. When I look into my neighbour's garden and all I see is a putting green lawn and hardly a plant in the border I can't help but wonder what possible joy he could get from that!

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  4. I couldn't have said it better! I complain about all the work too, but I can't imagine not gardening and all the joy I get from it. -Jackie

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  5. I garden because I enjoy it. Life is too short to do things which you don't enjoy. OK, so there's the downside to gardening, such as the failures, but even these can be put to positives. I haven't yet managed to get an aubergine plant to produce fruit, but I'm enjoying trying!

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  6. I actually love watering - whether with a watering can or a hosepipe. It puts me into a state that is almost meditative. Would much rather do that than, for instance, cut the grass.

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  7. I love gardening, but I cant really give a solid reason. Hmmm.... playing with dirt?.., the fun of weeding?... seeing how plants react with our intervention?... watering?...

    I love plants, soil and water!!

    Happy Gardening Val,
    ~ bangchik

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  8. So basically it comes down to a love of it for whatever reason be it watering which turns Sue on or the fun of weeding which gets Bangchik going. Or just for the sheer joy of it like Jo,
    Liz and Susan. Or even like Jackie and I who although we complain would be lost without it. Val

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  9. I love gardening because it brings me closer to the nature, reminds me that I am part of the ecosystem even when I am living in a densely packed concrete city.

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  10. I garden because I love to create something beautiful, and the unpredictability of plants makes it even more satisfying when they work together.

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