The Many Benefits of Gardening

Gardening has many benefits, the most obvious being fresh veggies and fruit. Read on for other benefits, some obvious and some not so obvious.

Gardening provides you with fresh food; food you grew yourself. The benefit of growing your own food is that you know what is going into the plants (by way of YOU fertilizing it, watering it, etc) You are able to pick the veggies and fruit at the height of readiness rather than supermarket veggies that are often picked before they are ready to be picked and artificially ripened. Your fruit and veggies are NOT coated in food grade wax because there's no need for it. You can control how your veggies are grown and when they are picked.

Gardening is good for the environment; the more plants the merrier in my opinion. Plants provide oxygen for the environment and absorb carbon dioxide in the air. Composting veggie and fruit scraps (along with old leaves, coffee grounds, and other organic material) frees up space in landfills. You are making less waste by having your own plants. No need to use a plastic clam shell container for your strawberries or a plastic bag for your green peppers! Use your own container from the kitchen or eat 'em straight from the garden!

Gardening is a good source of "fun" exercise (well, as fun as weeding can be!) Some studies suggest that gardening is good for the bones as well as all the lifting, stretching, and bending one does while gardening.

If you have children, gardening can instill a sense of where food comes from and why it's so important to have a garden-large or small. Showing a child how a plant starts from a seed and progresses into a full blown plant is not only educational, but fun! Teaching children, from a young age, that gardening, while fun, is hard work helps teach them to appreciate the work that farmers do each and every day to grow our food.

Gardening benefits you and the environment-what's stopping you from starting your own?!