Why do You Garden???

I'm always interested to know why people garden or how they got started? I would love to hear from some of you as to "why" you garden. Some people look at me like.. I have a horn growing out of my head when I get excited about plants. So here's my story...

When I was a little girl I was always intrigued by flowers. I would pick, smell, and even draw them. I was 12 years old..I drew a big 6 foot flower on my bedroom wall with crayons. I figured I'd better make it the biggest flower I could. Because when my mother saw what I did to the wall. It would be my butt! LOL I've always had houseplants..just within the last 3 years I really got into growing from seeds. Now I try to germinate the challenging seeds..I've gotten to the point where I have a six sense about about a seed...LOL I can tell how to germinate it by looking at it. Works for me! ha ha. It has always been my dream, to have a garden with a bench. Where I can just sit, read, admire the beauty, and fragrance. I use to work in a Nursing Home. I took care of a lady who says she died on the operating table. She claimed she was in the nursing home to recover and she was going home. I thought to myself, "Yeah Right". They all say they're going home..once in ... that's it and no leaving. One morning she told me about her experience during her operation. She said she saw the most beautiful gardens. The flowers were of colors that she had never seen. Also that we have never seen colors like this on earth. She then saw her husband and mother (who's deceased). She said she picked some flowers to smell them. Her mother told her she was going back. Next thing she knows she woke up in the hospital. She said the doctor told her..."We lost you for a minute during the procedure". She had flat-lined. Needless to say..She did go home after a few weeks. Ever since then I've really been into flowers and always looking for the one with The Color Never Seen.
Kim

Gardening is fascinating! You plant those little dead looking seeds and they grow into wonderous things! I love growing things. I can't draw but I can make something pretty by planting things and seeing what they become. My flower beds are an oasis for the birds in this dry climate. It is very enjoyable to walk around and see what new things are blooming. I don't rearrange my furniture but I do move plants to better locations, either for them to grow better, be seen more easily or to get complimentry shapes and colors together. The vegie garden is an effort to get back to real food, save some money and have things on hand all year. We eat something from the garden every day, either fresh, frozen, canned, or dried. I get a kick out of harvesting 30 or 40 butternut squash with a value of 69 or 79 cents a pound grown in my garden from seeds I saved from last year's squash. Or making a fresh salad from the volunteer lettuce that comes up because I let lettuce go to seed a few years ago to see what it would do. With the prices of fresh produce and the lack of quality it is a joy to grow my own!

Very cool story, Kim. I've had dreams where the the jungle trees opened up like on a movie set and a beautiful white prototype bird flew over a lagoon and I felt extreme peace (I'm a birder, so it was appropriately the first bird). I garden because my mother did (died in 1976) so it's a way to be close to her again. As dirty as I get, I garden because when I flit around primping in barefeet, I feel beautiful and want people I love to remember me always like this, I garden because beauty balances world ugliness, because I am an artist, because I have the illusion of control, because when I'm in pain the only cure is to have my hands in dirt, because it's the most physical thing I do, because I feel like I'm part of nature, because....let me count the ways...

Boojum...You are AWEsome! Birds in dreams symbolizes... That you can do the imposible. The Bible states, "Those that know their God, should mount up and fly like an eagle". This means you are one with nature/life and can handle crisis and remain strong.

Edited for typo

This message was edited Oct 10, 2004 9:49 AM

i dont know why i started-I hated it as a kid! my mom would say come sit and weed with me and id roll my eyes and say"right". Now that shes gone I wish i had sat with her!
I guess i garden for many reasons-the beauty,fragrance,the dirt,sanity and for others to enjoy it!
I spend all winter in my house and i tell ya what im staying outside as many hrs as i can during spring and summer!!!
when i leave this world-i will have left a small mark!
dont forget me!!!!!

Plants are a lesson to life. They teach me about people,places, and things. I've learned that the Biggest is not always the Strongest. The Smallest is not always the Weakest. The most Showy is not always the Best. For instance...I planted seeds and watched them all closely. I gave them the same soil, water, nourishment, and light. Some grew really fast and showed the rest out. Then the wind blowed and the showy ones flipped over and died. Some flowered there butts off and put on a show! Then the bugs devoured them. Some were choked by a few weeds and didn't want anything in the way. Some were very small, grew slow, and looked weak. But they outlived the bugs, withstood the winds, remained rooted when the weeds crowed, and still remained strong. They are the ones still alive. To me this is a lesson of life.

Beautiful pic notmartha!

Here are a few quotes I have saved that sum up my reasons for gardening:
"Working in the garden gives me something beyond the enjoyment of the senses. It gives me a profound feeling of inner peace."
"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace."
"I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. "
"I know a little garden close Set thickly with lily and red rose, Where I would wander if I might From dewy morn to dewy night... "

Trunnels OMG! That is Beautiful!

Thanks, Kim. Wish I could take credit.
Terrie

i first started a garden in the late seventies as a way to reduce the stress of having to drive 103 miles a dcay to work in nyc. after i gave up the city life for the country i continued gardening because i really got to enjoy it. i don't think i could ever live anywhere where there was a plot of dirt to sink my hands into.

I started gardening to save my sanity. Didn't work but I love to garden.

LOL LOL that's one of my reason too!

Typo

This message was edited Oct 10, 2004 6:58 PM

I garden because it will increase the value of our house by at least 15-20% (that's what I tell DH when I need a plant-fix, at any rate)! In reality, I have to create something everyday or I go crazy, and gardening is a great solution.
Natasha

Gardening makes my body and brain feel good.

I grew up on a farm in southern Iowa. As a child I watched my father tend the fields, and my mother tend to the veggie garden. Growing things for enjoyment was never something I saw in my day to day life....it was all work to me.
My Grandmother was the one who showed me that gardening, tilling the earth didn't have to be ALL work...it could be relaxing and enjoyable too. I keep a large plot of 'Ditch Lily' Daylilies in a prominent spot in the garden in memory of my dear grandmother, it was her favorite plant. Strong, beautiful, dependable....just like she was.
Through my teens, and twenties I did very little gardening...oh a few house plants, but no real garden. I really started in gardening in earnest when I hit my thirties.....the stresses of life needed to be balanced, and I found gardening did just that for me. I can have the worst day in the world at work, and by just spending a few minutes or hours in the garden washes all the ill away.
I truly believe that GOD gave us this beautiful Earth to care for....he made us all gardeners....some people just haven't figured it out yet. :-)

Ohhh rikerbear! Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful!

i garden so I can be respectfully dirty.

I come from a family of gardeners. Both sets of grandparents had veggie and flower gardens. My parents have both, also.

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher had all of the students grow a bean plant in a cup of sand. I was very diligent about keeping the plant watered. Most of the kids let their plants die, but my plant flourished and actually started to flower so the plant was put on the teacher's desk. I think that is event that really sparked my interest and love of gardening (I was a 6 year old kid who was getting lots of attention because of the plant that I had grown and what 6 year old kid doesn't like attention?)

I have grown houseplants for as long as I can remember. I have (had) fairly large collections of Orchids, Sansevierias, Hoyas, Haworthias and caudiciform succulents as well as various flowering plants (mainly Gesneriads). Now that I have the space to garden outdoors, I am not as involved with the indoor plants. Actually, I just donated a good number of my houseplants to the Botany Greenhouses at the U of MN. It's nice to have the extra space in the house. (c:

It's nice to have a (winter) break from the outdoor gardening chores, but by January I am chompin' at the bit to get my hands in the earth again.
Mike
(I still have way too many houseplants. I still grow orchids under a high pressure sodium light in my basement that moves on an 8' motorized track and I have various plant collections under 10 - 4' fluorescent fixtures.)

This message was edited Oct 11, 2004 2:38 PM

This message was edited Oct 11, 2004 2:40 PM

LOL LOL! DeepRoots

Great thread, Kim.

I garden for my soul and the peace that it brings me. There's nothing like getting out there on a cold morning with a cup of coffee or coming home after a long day of work and unwinding in the garden. I sow from seed so I can watch up close as the little seedling grows from something barely larger than a speck of dust. I love to take the time to discover all the volunteers that pop up and see the changes from week to week. There's always something new going on.

Why or how I got started, I don't exactly know, but I thank God I did!

The only thing I might change (or lighten up on) is to know that I am not responsible to save EVERY seed that I see and to know that it is just plain NUTS to plant 400+ seedlings in cell packs in the winter, because come spring they all need a home (or so I think), and it is ok to thin out seedlings without having to replant every single one of them!

The only thing I might change (or lighten up on) is to know that I am not responsible to save EVERY seed that I see and to know that it is just plain NUTS to plant 400+ seedlings in cell packs in the winter, because come spring they all need a home (or so I think), and it is ok to thin out seedlings without having to replant every single one of them!

plant_fiend.....LOL LOL Me too! I'm learning..and I don't feel bad to throw things in the compost pile like I use to..he he he. But it still hurts a little..LOL

I garden because it keeps me close to the Earth and also to the Great Spirit. Normally, I have had one bed and container gardens. This year we are landscaping so I'm finding that I am a newbie, but loving it! (yes, I even like weeding)

Welcome, Tammy! I promise you will become obsessed like the rest of us if you visit DG often. We all love to see pictures so any time you are ready . . .
Terrie

I had to think about my answer to this question as it is hard to explain. Gardening meets several inner drives that previously were unfulfilled - - a need to nurture, a need to create something artistic, and a need to have quality alone time. All of us have several "selves" - - our work self, our family self, etc. And when I garden, I feel like I am my "real self", the person that is molded by inner abilities and qualities.

I feel the same way :-D

When I first started gardening people kept telling me "It's to fill a need to nurture, you should have a baby!" Well, now I have a baby and the need for gardening is even more intense.. It's hard for me to figure out where the drive came from.. I can still remember when I used to kill houseplants! I am with you Kim and plant_fiend, it's taken me several YEARS to be able to thin out my seedlings.. It just seems so wrong! This summer however after being inundated with Castor Bean and Black Eyed Susan vine volunteers I toughened up a bit. I still love Castors but Black E'd Susan vine is now on my list of enemies!! LOL

I am glad you started this thread ...I want to write extensively about this very subject....I love to hear the childhood stories of that first experience of digging in the dirt....

Well I just came in from gardening..Enough for Today! I just ran into a snake...arghhhh! I hate creatures...LOL

Wish I could be out there with you!! I am sitting here pushing numbers around on spreadsheets! UCK

It's a great place to escape from my son. He never pesters me for money, games, etc when I'm in the garden because he is afraid if he comes out, I will put him to work. Aside from that, I just love to nurture things, kids, animals, plants, etc. It's also a great temporary escape from reality.
Jan...

budgielover,
Can I ask if you have any birds? I have a Yellow-Naped Amazon and I just had to give up my Black-Capped Lory. )c: She was so messy and I just didn't have the time to give to her. She was very needy and very tame. I figured that as I got older, I would have more free time. Wrong. I am getting busier. I still have my Yellow-nape.

My very first bird was a budgie named "Willie". "Willie" would sing "Willie's a pretty birdie, Willie's a pretty birdie" and he would say "MICHAEL" (mom and dad always called me MICHAEL when I did something wrong. Willie said my name very well! (c:). When I was young, I wanted a dog so bad, but my dad grew up on a farm and thinks that you can't have a dog unless you have 40 acres for the dog to run on. Oh well, Willie started my life-long love of birds.
Mike

I so miss my Quaker 'Walter'....he passed away two years ago this February.......liver infection.
We had him for just over 18 years......I can't bring myself to get another bird. None could ever replace or compare to him. :(

Why garden? The yard is an everchanging palette that in some small way I can change to suit my feelings,aesthetics or curiosity.The ability to plant a seed and never know exactly what will come up (based on genetics) is as exciting as anything I can think of.Hybridizing, whether by accident or intent,striving to breed that blue rose or elusive trait can be a lifelong and totally absorbing activity.But on a more mundane level,who can resist cutting a pretty flower for the hair or lapel?

Rikerbear oh I know how you feel. My first bird was a Quaker and I was too immature to know about birds and how to care for them. I was still in college, he was a baby and I did no research. I held him so much when I first got him that later on he would freak if I got out of a 5 foot radius. I had him a little over 2 yrs and out of desperation sold him to a pet store b/c I could no longer stand the noise.

I will regret that the rest of my life!! I can still see him gripping the side of the cage as I walked out. I was young and stupid and still think about him to this day. My imagination of course assumes the worst.

I currently have an African Grey and a Senegal and I promised myself that NO MATTER what happened they would stay with me. Of course they could still outlive me! LOL Anyway, sorry to ramble on but that picture...

My 2 birdies now have toys, pellets, water bottles, bathes, etc etc etc..

I gave up breeding birds about 2 yrs ago. I sold the last of my birds last year except for 2 baby cockatiels that a breeder friend of mine who is terminally ill gave me. I handfed them from 2 weeks old. I may get back into it when my son leaves for college in a couple of years but it will definitely be scaled back. I think my friend may want me to take her last few breeder pairs of cockatiels. I may breed them and just find the babies homes with the elderly or handicapped for companionship. I used to have in the neighbor of 350 birds ranging from budgies (my favorite) to quakers to conures. Also had some lories, amazons and african greys.

Wow budgielover! That's a lot of birds! I always wanted an Amazon, however I realize that my time is best spent divided between the two that I have currently. My Charlie the Senegal is a total mammas boy!

Ok, have to include a pic.. Sorry all!

Here's Zeke, can't leave him out!

:-D