Home Gardening: Why is it Important for Your Health?

Home Gardening: I feel a relaxed and peaceful environment with lots of fresh air and a blissful smile when I think about gardening. Gardening connects me with our divine creator. 

When I feel stressed, I want to explore flowers and trees and walk on wet green grass to feel nature. Sometimes, I want to know how the universe is created, and then I find the answers when I connect myself to nature.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”

-Alfred Austin

Importance of Gardening at Home

I want you that you can also feel the soothing and calming effect of nature. And start making a small garden at your home.

As you all know, gardening is the way to improve the health of your body and soul. It teaches us perseverance, self-reliance, development, discipline, etc. It also gives hope to hopeless people.

You can easily understand the beauty of nature when you feel it. It beautifies your mind and soul. Also, it is the best hobby that teaches you many things. 

Why Home Gardening is Accelerating?

After COVID-19, gardening has massively increased to be healthier and happier, especially home gardening. Now, it’s been trending to have a garden at home. Also, COVID-19 teaches us that you must connect with nature to make your life healthier. So, people start spending their time in indoor gardening.  

According to the statistics, we saw a hike of 65% in millennials as well as 44% in Generation Z of new gardeners. They take an interest in growing vegetables and fruits on your own.

Numerous Health Benefits of Home Gardening

• Relieves/Reduces Stress

A garden is your personal space to reduce stress by clearing your mind. Nature absorbs all the negativity and tiredness. And gives you a calm and soothing feeling. Gardening also decreases the levels of salivary cortisol to reduce stress and anxiety.

• Exercise & Fitness

It is a form of exercise when you spend time in your garden. You can walk around your garden and feel the freshness of the plants. So, it helps in reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke. 

• Improve Diet

In-home gardening, you can easily grow your own fruits and vegetables that help you positively improve your diet. However, when you do gardening, you learn the food you grow. So, it allows you to eat healthy and chemical-free food. It also promotes healthy weight gain. 

• Vitamin D Exposure

Home gardening helps expose you to the sun, increasing vitamin D production in your body. It also maximizes calcium levels to make your bones and immune system stronger. 

• Mood Enhancement

As a matter of fact, working in dust and dirt lighten your mood. And gives you a feeling of joy and happiness. When you connect yourself with the soil, it helps to lower your anxiety and make you feel more content and peaceful. It also improves your concentration level. So, you can easily pay attention to your minor and major tasks.  

• Burns Calories

Gardening is a type of exercise that helps you burn many calories. So, if you spend time gardening at home, you will burn up to 330 calories in an hour. 

• Improves Immune System

Home gardening means taking care of plants and indirectly taking care of yourself. As a reason for that, gardening enhances your immune system and sharpens your mind. 

• Enhance Mindfulness

You did numerous activities when you did gardening, such as watering plants, cutting down weeds, sowing seeds, maintaining soil, cleansing the lawn/balcony, etc. So, these activities help enhance mindfulness. 

• Lowers Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is prevalent in adults as well as in youngsters. When we talk about gardening, we talk about how it helps you manage your blood pressure. So, if you spend your time with plants, it certainly lowers your blood pressure and makes you feel relaxed and comfortable. 

• Lessen Depression & Maximizes Concentration

Depression means loneliness and a doubtful life. And there is no doubt that spending time with nature is an excellent ailment to treat depression. So, immerse or delve into nature to lessen your depression. Apart from this, gardening also enhances your attention span. So, spend time with plants, flowers, and soil to increase your concentration level.

What is the Environmental Impact of Home Gardening?

Our social responsibility is to care for the environment; home gardening is the best way. Now, let’s comprehend how we can impact the environment with the help of home gardening. And as a gardener, how do you make our world the most beautiful place?

Improve air quality in urban areas.

Without a hitch, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Home gardening is a pathway to reduce the carbon footprints in urban areas. Moreover, growing crops at home minimizes the need for travelling, which helps reduce environmental carbon emissions. The more you grow vegetables and fruits on your own, the more you reduce the usage of automobiles, which leads to global warming. 

Preserve & protect biodiversity.

You can make a safe environment for birds and insects. Also, provide a home to those animals to protect them from predators and bad weather. Apart from this, it also helps them to mate and reproduce safely. And it will help your garden flourish with insects like bees to produce honey through pollination. 

Reduce the use of chemicals.

Suppliers use fertilizers and chemicals to increase the quantity of food production to meet the food production market demand. Home gardening helps in food production in an eco-friendly and healthier way. So, it helps eliminate the usage of chemicals and fertilizers when everybody does home gardening. 

How Does Home Gardening Help in Community Building?

As a home gardener, you can make a difference for your community. First and foremost, it builds community bonds by sharing resources and knowledge. Secondly, children and adults work together to plant trees and maintain gardens. Thirdly, it fills the generation gaps and social ties between your community. Lastly, socializing lets you meet new people when you share your interest in gardening. 

How to Start Your Home Garden?

First, you must start small and expand it according to your time and money. 

• Step 1: Select a location
• Step 2: Choose the right plants 
• Step 3: Buy gardening tools at a small level
• Step 4: Prepare soil according to the plant
• Step 5: Fertilization of soil
• Step 6: Sow seeds as per your interest
• Step 7: Watering the plants
• Step 8: Give an adequate amount of sunlight to your plants 

If you are a passionate gardener, then you can easily overcome the following challenges in home gardening:

1. Excessive watering to the plants.
2. There needs to be more sunlight given to the plants.
3. Find out the best time to plant.
4. Prevent pests and insects do not harm your plants.
5. Find out the weather conditions that are good for your plants.

Don’t hesitate to get help from expert gardeners If you struggle to overcome these challenges.

My Final Thoughts

You must start your home garden if you want the everlasting joy of gardening. You have to do is start small. You don’t have to spend too much time and money on it. For instance, plant flowers, herbs, and shrubs, then move on to the bigger ones. 

I recommend you grow vegetables and fruits that are easy to grow and start spending time taking care of them. And start sharing your experience with your family and friends. It will be really beneficial for your mental well-being. 

You can also share your gardening journey with me, and if you have any gardening questions, feel free to ask. I try my best to provide you with an effective solution!!!