Through the Garden Gate

By Leslie Watkins

Gardening is a lot of work. Digging in hard soil, hauling in compost and keeping up with the weeds are daunting. Learning what’s what is a whole other thing. There’s a lot to know, it’s endless. When you add up the hours spent laboring and learning, is it really worth it? That depends on who you ask.

Gym fees average between $40 and $60 per month plus initiation fees. Gardening will give you a good workout for free. It provides weight-bearing exercise, an aerobic workout and plenty of stretching without the jarring of joints that comes with running. Research shows that gardening for 30 minutes a day helps to increase flexibility, strengthen joints, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol while burning 100-150 calories or more. And how about feeding those growing muscles? There is no doubt that eating fresh food from your own garden is the best-tasting and most nutritious option, costing you a fraction of what you would pay someone else. Spinach can lose 90 percent of its vitamin C within 24 hours of harvest. Studies show that many vegetables will lose 15 to 77 percent of vitamin C and other nutrients within a week, about the time it takes to get them from the field into your grocery and finally to your plate . . . that’s if you eat them as soon as you get home.

Eating homegrown veggies is good for the planet, too. Consuming meat accounts for nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Beef production is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the United States. A plant-based diet around the world would produce 49 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the food industry, 50 percent less acidification of the land and 19 percent less water usage. While a totally vegan planet may not be possible, certainly eating less meat and more vegetables would be better for so many reasons.

Gardening provides a natural high. No, I’m not talking about cannabis, though there is that, too. Soil contains a harmless bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, that raises serotonin levels in the brain, making us happier and smarter. Add some fresh-picked tomatoes or strawberries, a companion or two, and you have the makings for a good time!

Creation began in a garden, our beautiful planet. Sculpting the landscape with soil, rocks and trees, and painting with flowers, are creating with life itself. Add the sound of water, wind rustling through leaves and birdsong for the perfect backdrop for visitors. Toads, chipmunks and butterflies will arrive to provide great entertainment for humans of all ages. Offer your guests “pick-your-own” raspberries and give them a bouquet of herbs as a gift. 

Humans need more than just sustenance alone. We need beauty, companionship and creativity to feel fully nourished, and to provide a quiet place for contemplation. Gardening gives us all that and more.

“To affect the quality of the day is the highest of all arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.”

—Henry David Thoreau

July Garden Chores
Keep weeding and watering.
Tie up tomatoes as they grow.
Inspect and dust with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) for bugs.
Set covered traps for voles.
Learn new veggie recipes.
Collect the bounty as it ripens.
Plan for succession planting.
Visit other gardens.
Research new plants.
Invite a friend over.