Favorite Things To Do In The Garden
I’m a huge believer that everyone should give gardening a chance. Gardening sometimes gets a bad rep since it isn’t always portrayed as a “cool” thing to do, but those that don’t try it are missing out on something great. There are so many things that gardening has to offer, other than the obvious of producing fruits and vegetables.
What are favorite things to do in the garden? As gardeners we all have certain things that make gardening enjoyable for us. One thing we all share in common is our love for being out in the garden. Some of us have various rituals or things that we like to do when we are in our gardens.
Here is a list of my favorite things to do in the garden:
- Get Dirty
- Work Up a Sweat
- Be Thankful
- Observe
- Start Over
- Take Pics
- Take Pride
- Unwind
- Reap the Harvest
Purpose of Gardening
Gardening may start off as just growing something, but often becomes so much more. Through gardening some become passionate about the environment, others homesteading, some about eating clean foods, and others it’s about community. Gardening can take on a unique purpose for each gardener, but one thing we as gardeners have in common is that gardening brings us joy. Let’s take a closer look at what my favorite things to do in the garden are and I’m sure you will either relate to some of these or discover new purposes for your garden adventure.
Get Dirty
Many of our ancestors spent their lives plowing the fields, tilling the earth, and planting crops. Growing things just seems to be something that is engrained in us. As someone who works in an office for their 9-5, like a big part of the world today, I love being able to play around in some dirt. If you haven’t tried it, you should, it’s amazing! Getting my hands dirty helps me to connect with that natural desire we have as humans to tend the earth.
Work Up a Sweat
I’m a huge fan of activities that have some level of physical exertion. We all know the health benefits of getting our heart pumping and what working up a little sweat can do for us. I’m not here to list all those benefits in this post, but that gardening can provide some level of a sweat workout makes it all the more worthwhile. Digging, pushing, bending, lifting, chopping, and the work we do in the garden can work on body in a myriad of ways.
Be Thankful
I feel a level of gratitude and appreciation for nature when I am in my backyard garden. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not out there talking to my plants, ok well sometimes, but it just allows us to be more considerate of our environment. In the fast paced worlds we live in, sometimes we forgot to just stop what we are doing and take a look around us at what we have. Nature was given to all of us to enjoy and it’s there if we just look. As we look, we can be grateful for what is there.
Observe
My wife used to make jokes when I’d go out to check on a plant or tree a couple times a day or more, telling me how it still hasn’t done anything since you looked 5 minutes ago. As a gardener you somewhat feel like a scientist making observations after tinkering with watering, feeding, or other changes. We like to observe all the intricate details of what is working or what isn’t. It’s those little observations that can help fend off an outbreak of unwanted pests or a water leak that would of otherwise went unnoticed. Observing those little details helps us to see the little workings of the hand of our creator.
Start Over
One thing that is great about gardening is that every season provides a blank slate to start again. If you’ve tried and failed its ok because you’ll be able to try again. It’s exciting to see a garden box awaiting those first seeds at the beginning of the growing season. It’s like a painter’s canvas just awaiting all the beautiful colors to take shape. Perusing the seed catalogs has become a fun thing to do in the winter to identify all the new things to try to grow that upcoming year.
Take Pride
Gardening gives us a chance to see an end result or a reward for our hard work. It gives me great pride when I’m able to see a tree flourish that I’ve been nurturing and have it produce a bountiful harvest. As gardeners we love to share our success stories with others. It’s a great feeling of an accomplishment when we have little gardening successes.
Take Pics
Taking garden photos ties right-in with taking pride in our garden. I wasn’t much into photography, but when my garden started producing flowers, fruits, or just new foliage I started taking pics of everything. Suddenly my cell phone became full of backyard photos. Of course it’s not enough to just keep them in the cell phone reel, we want to share the beauty on social media with everyone else.
Unwind
Even though I mentioned how gardening can be physical demanding, it can also be hugely relaxing. Most of us gardeners love the quiet sanctuaries our gardens provide us with. Its great stress relief to just sit back in your garden, enjoy its beauty, while sipping on a drink. All the business of the world tends to just fade away.
Reap the Harvest
Ok, so I’ve talked about all the different things that can make gardening exciting without actually talking about growing things to eat. Well, I’ve saved the best for last. Of course one of the main enjoyments we as gardeners get is to reap what we’ve sown. Things grown out of the garden just taste better than what you get from the store. I did blind taste test with my kids and tomatoes. I cut up a store bought tomato and a tomato from our garden. They immediately lit up when tasting the tomato from the garden. There are tons of things to back why this is the case, but let’s just leave it at the love you put into it makes it taste so much better.
To sum it up, gardening is much more than just pulling some weeds and eating homegrown tomatoes. Although those things are part of it, gardening enriches our soul. These are some of my favorite things to do in the garden, which I’m sure my fellow gardeners can relate too. My hope is that others see that gardening is an adventure worth trying. I’d love to hear more of your comments below on what you like to do in your gardens.
photo credit: garryknight St James’s Park Gardeners via photopin (license)