What is Gardening?
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of
horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their
flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root
vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits, and herbs, are grown for
consumption, for use as dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use.
Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard
plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees, and
herbaceous plants, to residential back gardens including lawns and
foundation plantings, and to container gardens grown inside or outside.
Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or
involve a variety of plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active
participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor-intensive,
which differentiates it from farming or forestry.
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Why is gardening important for your health?
Gardening comes with a myriad of well-documented health benefits. The most obvious of these has to do with the fact that quite a bit of gardening is done outdoors. Exposure to sunlight increases your vitamin D, which is good for bones, teeth, and muscles. And speaking of muscles, gardening is a great form of low-impact exercise — high impact if you’re hefting huge pots or wheelbarrows of soil around. In terms of mental health, gardening has also been shown to decrease the risk of dementia and as a type of therapy for those already suffering from it, according to a study published by the journal Psychiatry Investig. This might have to do with the mental health benefits we experience just being in nature. Gardens, by virtue of the human-made nature of their construction, allow us a means to connect to nature in a sort of self-determined way.
Why is gardening important for your mood?
Many studies have found that gardening can boost one’s mood. I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but gardening makes me feel great. Even after spending hours pulling weeds and planting new vegetables every spring, I feel like my demeanor is far brighter than it was when I first pulled on my gardening gloves that day. This isn’t just because you feel like you’ve accomplished something either — though that does help. As reported by Quartz, several studies have found that exposure to a specific bacteria commonly found in soil can increase levels of serotonin in the human brain. Serotonin is a chemical that increases feelings of well-being or happiness.
Why is gardening important to your daily life?
Your health, your frame of mind, your community, and the environment — if those are not enough reasons for why gardening is important, we have a few more to give you. Gardening can also be important for your wallet, nutrition, and environmental footprint. By growing your own sustenance, your diet becomes more sustainable, since your food won't have to travel more than a few feet to get to your plate (as opposed to store-bought produce, which can sometimes be flown in from other countries). If your thumb is particularly green, you’ll probably save more money than you realize by harvesting your own fruits and veggies — and by growing your produce organically, it could be healthier than the conventional produce you may otherwise buy at the store.
Coded by Mihaela Jghiban