Why Garden?

I was surprised by how much I have enjoyed gardening. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as myself, are encouraged to be self sufficient. One way we can increase our self sufficiency is by growing our own food. My parents and grandparents have always had gardens. As a kid I often helped in the garden. I have good and bad memories of that

I usually got the impression from my parents that it was something that we should do and not something that they wanted to do. That may have just been because I was a kid and didn’t really want to be pulling weeds. Did you help in the garden as a kid?

When I got married my perspective totally shifted. Gardening became a fun activity! Our fist garden was a container garden. We had a little patio, so we bought some tubs and filled them with dirt. We had to cover them because we lived in an area with wild turkeys and deer. But let me tell you, it was so exciting when our little seedlings started to sprout. We even got to harvest some of them.

When we moved in with my grandparents it was the first time that we had plenty of space to work with. We decided to plant a proper garden.

Like I said, I was surprised at how enjoyable it has been. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of work. But it is very satisfying work. It also helps that my husband is also really into it. In fact, I think it is safe to say that he is the driving force behind our garden.

Gardening is one of our main family activities. The kids are getting pretty helpful. Even if they are not helpful, I love that it gets them outside. We have a great time.

I really enjoy being able to put up fruits and vegetables to use all winter. It is so satisfying to be able to eat what we have grown.

Full confession, I used to always forget to water our garden. My husband would be like, “Did you happen to water the garden today?” (Because I was home all day.) And I would be like, “um no, should I have?”. So the next year I realized that I needed to make a schedule for watering. I put it in my phone so I would get reminders. My husband decided it would be a good idea to make watering easier. Needless to say, the next year we got a lot more produce. Every year we learn new things.

So, here is my advise. If you are thinking you want to try growing your own food, you should really go for it. It is okay if you have made mistakes in the past. Mistakes are how we learn. So, learn from your mistakes. Figure out what worked and what didn’t and plan accordingly. Start small and add on. Just do it! Just try it! Don’t give up if things don’t go as well as you imagine they will.

You can do it! And it’s okay if you try it and decide it’s not enjoyable for you. But if you don’t give it a fair shot then you won’t really know. It’s like if you tried running once and decided you didn’t like it. Well of course you won’t like it the first time you try it! You have to ease into it and be consistent if you really want to make it a part of your life. You wouldn’t try to run a marathon without training, so don’t expect to have a perfect garden on your first attempt. Start small and expand slowly. Be consistent and pace yourself.

Please tell me about your experiences with gardens in the comments. I would love to hear what you have to say.