I was never much interested in gardening when I was first married. We bought a house that had some garden around it, but it never occurred to me that I could enhance it, change it, extend it, improve it or do anything other than give it the occasional tidy up.
If anyone had told me that two or three decades on, I’d be spending virtually every weekend in the garden, I’d have lost the will to live.
While I know why I started gardening, I’m not altogether sure why I’m still doing it, although a list of reasons I found in an old magazine recently has offered a few clues. If you find one that resonates with you, go for it.
Begonias
For exercise
Studies show that an hour of moderate gardening can burn up to 1200kJ. If that’s true, I should weigh in at about 40kg, but this is not the case. However, it does get you fairly fit and supple, especially if you garden with the Partner, whose favourite expression is, “Just grab me that spade over there, will you?” All that bending, stretching, walking and lifting heavy things is the equivalent of an exercise class.
Creating a vege patch is trendy, healthy and economical.
For food
It’s estimated that during WWII around 20 million home-owners had Victory Gardens, which produced close to 40% of the fresh vegetables consumed in the US. Growing your own is trendy, sustainable, economical, healthy and admirable – and it means you get to eat what you want, when you want, without fear of being poisoned by someone else’s over-zealous application of chemicals. Plus it tastes better. Bite into a supermarket apple or peach followed by a homegrown one and you’ll be ripping out your pool and planting an orchard next winter.
To meet people
This was on the list I found, but I don’t agree. I met far more people when I was travelling, socialising, going to car rallies and music events. Nobody wants anything to do with a woman who spends every weekend wearing grubby clothes, bending over a garden bed up to her elbows in dirt.
To wake up your brain
When my parents gardened, all they did was dig over a patch of dirt, throw some compost in it and plant seeds. Stuff grew. They ate it. Simple as that.
It begs the question of why gardening has become so complex, but I think it’s a case of the more you know, the more you want to know. Finding out why your tomatoes were an embarrassment this year when your neighbour’s were fabulous becomes a burning issue, and understanding what’s going on with the soil, the temperature, the rainfall and the contents of all those fertilisers and bug killers can be really useful.
To be creative
For many of us, gardening is a creative outlet. The design of your garden reflects your own personal style. As long as you like the look of it, it’s a success. I learned this years ago when I photographed a garden for a magazine article. Most of the ground had been covered in pink concrete, while garden gnomes, miniature bridges and homemade sculptures were crammed into every corner. I thought it was truly hideous. The readers adored it. Go figure.
To win
If you like having your ego stroked, enter your garden in a competition, or open it to the public during your local garden safari. I’ve been threatening the Partner with this for the past three years in an attempt to accelerate the progress of the uncompleted projects we have going on around the property. Although there’s a huge amount of work involved, it’s great motivation for getting things done, and it encourages you to see your garden the way others might see it. Will anyone notice the top of that fence isn’t level, and can I get a climber growing over it before the big day?
To add beauty
This is my favourite, and I think it’s why I garden. I want everything around me to look as attractive as it possibly can, and to that end I’m always adding, subtracting, changing and moving elements. It’s amazing how a planter moved 10cm to the right suddenly makes a whole area look perfect.
Yes, this is a garden. It takes very little time and space to grow a dwarf fruit tree in a container and it will feed your soul – and your gin and tonic.
Those who are unconvinced by any of these reasons have probably been telling themselves that they haven’t got time to garden. And that is not true. In the time it’s taken you to read this story, you could have filled a container with soil, fed it, and planted a dwarf lemon tree!
