9 Reasons Why You Should Start Gardening

The Benefits of Having a Green Thumb

When looking to start a new hobby, you will surely come across gardening as a top pick, especially amidst our newly evolving lifestyles. It’s one of humanity’s earliest hobbies, dating back to the times of ancient Egypt. Today is no different as gardening has retained its popularity throughout the millennia. In fact, we even celebrate National Gardening Day on April 16th, which demonstrates how it’s still one of our favorite pastimes. Lockdowns, a love for organic produce, and a growing need for fresh air have however contributed to a rising affinity for this relaxing hobby.

The benefits of gardening are limitless, as is the pride and joy you’ll be feeling as you watch your plants grow. Once you start planting your first seeds and cultivating a few initial saplings, you will see just how addicting this hobby is and how easy it is to get enthralled by your garden. Gardening starts the moment you feel that it interests you. As you read just some of the reasons why you should garden, you’ll already be planting the seeds of your future in gardening. 

1. A Breath of Fresh Air

home gardening

Gardening can be a solution on how to improve your health by giving your lungs a nice detox with some much-needed fresh air. Ventilated or not, indoor air is going to get stale and stagnant all too often. Plus, there's almost always an imbalance of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide in the air, so you're not breathing in as much oxygen indoors as you would outside. By doing outdoor activities like gardening, you will be taking several trips outside and getting some much-needed fresh air after many subsequent hours indoors. 

2. Rake Leaves, Burn Calories

prepping soil for planting

Gardening can be a physically demanding hobby, which is great for anyone who wants to live the healthy life. Expect to break a sweat doing even the most basic activities, like raking leaves or cutting grass. Even planting is a great way to secretly throw in some squats without the pressure. Working in the garden can play a major role in a healthy lifestyle by being your daily dose of physical exercise. Raking and collecting leaves will burn from 350 to 400 calories per hour, pulling weeds and planting flowers 200 to 400 calories, and heavier tasks, like moving dirt, digging and landscaping are a whopping 400 to 600 calories burned. If you wish to balance the scales from all the physical inactivity from lockdowns, gardening is a great way to do it.

3. Extra Sunshine In Your Life

gardening and sunshine

A lot of your time spent gardening will be under the sun, our primary source of vitamin D.  This has many positive health effects, including strengthening bones, improving the immune system, and even boosting the regenerative abilities of the skin. With pandemics and lockdowns having become part of our lifestyle, people aren't going out as much, thus limiting the amount of vitamin D their bodies absorb. By going outside to work on your garden, you will also get that much-needed vitamin D that keeps your body strong. However, it’s important to remember that excessive exposure to sunlight can be harmful. Remember to use plenty of sunscreen before going out to work on your garden and invest in a good hat that will shade you without causing you to sweat.

4. Patience Is a Virtue

gardening with grandpa

Gardening is part interactive fun and part a waiting game, as it takes at least several months to cultivate and grow all fruits, veggies, and plants. Gardening teaches you to be patient and diligent as you watch the plants slowly grow. Life operates on strict schedules and time crunches these days, as well as has us looking to be as efficient with our time as possible. Gardening is the perfect activity to slow your pace and bring the stress levels a few notches down for you and your family.

5. Cultivating New Relationships

community garden allotment

Gardening doesn’t have to be a solo hobby. You can do it with your family and friends, maybe even your neighbors. Any hobby is going to build new relationships as you meet new people who share your interest. Who knows, you may find enough gardeners in your vicinity and start a communal garden for the whole neighborhood. Making it a group activity can also help you learn from each other and improve your new gardening skills, like understanding which plants to grow or how to properly maintain your garden box. You can still reap the social benefits of gardening with your significant other, kids, or grandkids as well. With how isolated we’ve become in recent years, gardening will give you that healthy dose of social interaction we’ve been missing out on. 

6. A Cheerfully Florid Mood 

gardening for destressing

After WWII, many American families began working on their “Victory Gardens”. They did this to diminish the rising risk of food shortages. This was also a coping mechanism for dealing with the hardships and stress that came with and after the war. We can see a very similar sentiment with the Covid pandemic. While the risk of a food deficit is rather low in the US, many people have begun gardening as a way to mitigate the fears that come with country-wide lockdowns. Ask any gardener and they’ll tell you with great resolve how relaxing it is.

If you need some science to back it up, the Mental Health Review Journal has documented findings including “decreases in depression and anxiety, and positive advances with respect to self-esteem, social behavior, and personal relationships”. Even on the most stressful days, an hour in the garden is enough to take a lot of weight off your shoulders.

7. Healthier Food at Your Literal Doorstep

fresh vegetables from home garden

Let’s think about all the steps that produce has to go through before it makes its way into your meals. First, it has to be picked, then processed, packaged, shipped, unpacked at the store, organized onto the shelves, stay there for some time until you put it in your basket, take it home, leave it in the fridge, only to use it a few days later. By then, the produce is far from fresh, its nutritional value is greatly diminished, and it just tastes a lot blander than it did at the start of that cycle. Many can reminisce on their share of disappointments with supermarket tomatoes.

With fresh vegetables growing in your backyard, the aforementioned process is shortened to just one step: picking. Anytime you need some basil, just go to the windowsill herb garden and pick it fresh from the pot. The taste is incomparable, it’s way more nutritious, and you don’t have to go to the store for them. 

8. Biophilia: Nature’s Warm Embrace

home garden design

Being close to nature has been proven to have psychological benefits, like reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. Naturally (pun very much intended), by tending to your garden, you will be spending plenty of time in nature. Gardening is also a great way to bring some of that nature into your home and some biophilia into your life. There are plenty of flowers, herbs, and even some veggies that you can grow inside your home and improve the aura, give your eyes immediate rest from the screens, and bring nature indoors. A lemon tree in your living room, for example, is a prime example that will also emanate a natural and gorgeous citrusy aroma throughout your house.

9. A Garden Can Grow Your Home’s Resale Value

modern garden with outdoor seating

Having a charming and well-maintained garden in your backyard is going to leave a great impression on potential future buyers. Seasoned home appraisers at Contractors.com will tell you how any attractive external addition to your home is going to https://www.contractors.com/11-key-tips-unlocking-your-potential-home-value/. This may seem trivial now when you’re not considering selling your home. But if the time comes that you need to put up the “FOR SALE” sign, every additional feature counts. Professional gardeners or landscape designers can help you integrate your garden with your home's exterior or beautifully wrap it around a floating deck. This will make your backyard look exponentially more attractive, giving buyers more reason to pay a higher price.

*Clatworthy, Jane & Hinds, Joe & Camic, Paul. (2013). Gardening as a mental health intervention: A review. Mental Health Review Journal. 18. 10.1108/MHRJ-02-2013-0007.