Gardening is probably the most widely recognized and popular hobby in America. What is it about gardening that gives people so much satisfaction? Although I cannot speak for other people, I can try to articulate why I find so much joy in gardening.
I happen to love plants. It doesn't matter whether they are flowering plants, plants grown for their foliage or plants grown for food. I love them no matter what they are. Nothing quite compares to the satisfaction of watching a seed that I planted germinate and grow into a mature plant. A seed planted for a food crop is somehow different, though. It is no less satisfying; it's just different.
For many people like myself, there is great joy to be found in the process of creating a garden. The challenge of taking an area that consists of nothing but dirt or grass and turning it into a beautiful wildlife habitat, tropical paradise, cottage garden, or vegetable garden is nothing short of miraculous to me. When I grow my own vegetables, I feel wonderfully connected to the earth. As a gardener, I become a willing steward, charged with caring for the earth.
There is something incredibly spiritually fulfilling about taking seeds and gently placing them under the surface of the dirt, watering them and then standing back to watch them grow. The same can be said for bulbs, rhizomes and tubers. Every year, as I watch the things I've nurtured grow and multiply, I feel a sense of pride in the knowledge that as my garden expands and matures, it is the things that I have done to nurture it that have allowed this to happen.I don't even mind having to weed my garden because I cherish the feel of that cool soil.
My mother and I often spend time in her garden, working together. We weed, plant, transplant and just enjoy the time together. I never wear gardening gloves, and for some reason, my mother had never noticed that. She asked me why I didn't wear gloves, and I told her that I loved feeling the dirt in and on my hands. I always feel that way when I garden.
One of my greatest joys in gardening is the joy I get from seeing the hummingbirds that arrive at my garden around the second week of March of every year. Unfortunately, for the first month or two that they are around, there isn't much that is mature enough yet to provide them with sufficient nectar. I therefore must keep my sugar water filled feeders out and filled for them. Soon, however, my Rose of Sharon bushes will produce blooms that will provide nectar to both hummingbirds and butterflies.
I live in one of the warmer climates where it is possible to actually grow some things all year around. Most of the time, the cold days we have don't last for long enough or get cold enough to produce a hard freeze. When we have winters such as that (and this is unfortunately not one of them,) it is possible to grow lettuce, spinach and radishes as well as other cool weather crops all winter long. We are able to put tomatoes out long before people in colder climates do. In fact, in some areas, we are putting our tomatoes outside when people in colder climates are starting seeds indoors.
In winter, it's not unusual for people in the south to have amaryllis blooms around Christmas time. Unfortunately, however, this winter has forced many tropical gardeners to bring things indoors. Bringing my tropical plants indoors for the winter simply means that part of my garden comes inside. I nurture it as I would my outdoor garden, with the only exception being that things get less water during the winter months.
Growing my own food crops and being able to harvest vine ripened produce just before I plan to eat it is incredibly rewarding. Until I began growing vegetables, I couldn't imagine the prospect of going out to my garden and harvesting some lettuce for my dinner salad, picking a tomato, beans, snow peas, or even bringing in several orange, red, yellow or purple peppers. The taste of everything is so fresh, so perfect. I am amazed and thrilled. Every time I go to harvest something, I feel the same satisfaction, the same joy and the same thrill that I felt the first time I picked anything I grew.
I cannot imagine not having plants. The spiritual fulfillment I derive from growing them, tending to them, loving them and watching them is almost indescribably rewarding. I become a nurturer of a different sort. I'm not the nurturing wife, the mother to my step kids or step grand kids, the aunt to my nieces or nephews, the daughter to my mother or the sibling to my brother and sister. I am the plant nurturer, and by nurturing plants, I am calmed by them. It's an interesting twist of fate, to say the least.
As I watch my plants growing more each day, I continually feel rewarded by my efforts and through what I see. Those rewards often relieve the tensions of a particularly stressful day, or calm my mind when I have worries that don't seem to abate. In the same way that music calms the savage mind, gardening quiets the unsettled soul.
There has never been a time in my adult life when my pursuit of gardening hasn't rewarded me with great joy, satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment and many friendships that I otherwise would never have developed.The more gardening I do, the more I grow to love plants. Yes, I am a plant lover, to be sure. Gardening fills that incredibly great spiritual need for me.