5 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Gardening

Gardening is an activity that can range from a row of geraniums in a window box to acres of prairie plants in a country field. But the common thread of planting and growing plants runs through gardening at any scale. The life lessons you can learn from enjoying this activity are as diverse as the array of plants in the world.

It's all about the soil
You can go to the garden center and purchase all the plants you like, but if the soil you intend to place them in is not fertile, prepared well, or suited to the types of plants you plan to grow, your plants will not thrive. This lesson holds true in so many other phases of life as well. The foundation of our well being needs to be well-grounded in order for us to thrive as well. That foundation may depend in varying parts on spiritual, familial, financial or other types of support. But in the end it is how we mix and prepare these foundations that helps us grow.

Turn your face toward the sun if you want good energy
Most plants depend on sunlight to help them grow. Many plants literally turn their blossoms and leaves toward the sun to gather maximum energy to help photosynthesis, the life-giving conversion of light to food. People are similar in some very literal ways, needing light and sun for health and production of certain vitamins in their systems. But turning your face toward the sun can be a symbolic gesture as well. The sun represents positivity, an important life-force for many people. Sunlight has been shown to improve mood in people just as it has helps plants grow. Sometimes a whole garden can be seen to lean toward the sun if access to sunlight is limited.

It takes some culling to make a garden grow
One of the hardest concepts for beginning or casual gardeners to grasp is that individual plants and areas of a garden require trimming, cutting and culling to thrive. Plants cannot grow well if they are choked out by other plants or allowed to extend themselves so far that their energy can't be focused back toward producing blossoms, fruit or healthy stems and leaves. In people the ability to cull our activities and trim back the fat or unkempt portions of our lives contributes to overall health. A tree with branches that cross over each other does not allow the breeze to pass through. That's how it is with our thoughts as well.

Plant when the time is right, and harvest too
Good gardeners develop a keen sense and understanding of when the time is right to put certain plants in the ground. Plant too early and flowers or vegetable plants might freeze or squander due to lack of light. Plant too late and summer heat can kill off tender young plants. Always remember it pays to harvest what you grow, because removing some of the garden makes room for other plants in their season. So why not enjoy the fruit of your labors? That is true in many phases of life. Learning to enjoy a little bit of our resources each day is a healthy way to reward ourselves for hard labor. Plus your senses will be awakened to all the joys around as you consider what your daily reward should be.

You're never alone in a garden
Gardens attract many kinds of living things. Not all are pleasant or good company. Garden pests such as mites, aphids and Japanese beetles can decimate your prized plants. But along with the pests comes an unbelievable variety of beneficial insects, birds, animals, spiders and other living things that come to view your garden as home. Gardening is the process of getting in touch with nature, literally and figuratively. Learning to appreciate that even the so-called "bad bugs" have a role to play is an important life lesson. To help nature along, some gardeners choose to use their gardens like a ranch of sorts, harvesting butterfly eggs on host plants, for example, to raise in an inside aquarium, then release the butterflies when they've hatched from the chrysalis. There is almost no more satisfying feeling than watching a butterfly you've raised enjoy the plants you've grown. You have become part of nature's family.