It might be that you’ve never even thought of testing out your green thumb by planting a vegetable garden. However, just about everyone loves eating the fresh vegetables that come from a garden, and it is something that everybody should take on at least once while they have the health to be able to try it.
It is easy, in our electronic age, to forget the delicate cycles that operate within our planet, whether we are aware of them or not. We think in terms of pace on social media, text messages and emails, and when things do not happen at a rapid pace, we become frustrated. Gardens do not grow at this rate, though. There is no way to rush the dynamic of growth, as plants slowly form roots and push them into the soil, taking up their nutrients at their own rate. This is similar to the growth that takes place within each of us as children, and to the changes that take place within us as we age, inexorably. Gardening sensitizes us to these changes, at their slower but more stubborn pace, and makes us more in tune with ourselves.
Food, in the modern age, magically appears at the grocery store for us to buy and take home — at least, that is how it seems when we head to the store, because we have not had to put any of the work in with regard to cultivating the food. When we take the time to create our own gardens, then we get a sense of the sheer labor that goes into producing one bell pepper or one head of lettuce. Mechanized farming, to be sure, makes this process easier for the larger commercial farmers, but gardening will allow us to see why the rhythms of life were much slower for our ancestors, because the rhythms of cultivation were the most important ones of all, governing all other schedules.
Gardening teaches us about the ecosystem in which we live. If our neighborhood goes for a month without rain, it’s likely that our grocery stores will still have the same offerings. However, our gardens will suffer. This teaches us how badly we need rain in order for our land to remain healthy on a regular basis. Also, you are much less likely to dump household chemicals or other waste into the backyard if the broccoli you are going to eat later is growing out there. Keeping toxins out of the environment becomes much more important when that environment next to us is about to feed us.
Gardening can relieve stress over time. It’s true that wandering outside to find that bugs have gotten to your tomato plants or that a bunny is running off with your lettuce is frustrating, but the slow rhythm of cultivation will help you slow down and relax in other areas of your life, reducing stress.
Plants give us foods but also medicines and even fragrances. By starting a vegetable garden, you can enjoy the sources of so many wonders in our world.