Gardeners are natural environmentalists. We grow our own vegetables. We plant trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals that make oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. We compost our food scraps and garden wastes, to recycle dirt into garden gold. We lower our carbon footprints as much as we can by raising our crops and plants organically. And of course, plants help Mother Earth counteract the carbon dioxide and other polluting products we release to our environment. Gardening has gone beyond aesthetics and self-indulgence.
Gardeners do love the earth and Mother Earth.
Several of my close friends and former schoolmates at Silliman University in Dumaguete City (Negros Oriental) have started as hobby gardeners, especially during the Covid pandemic and quarantine, but have now branched out into hard-core plant collectors or commercial growers. Gardening and farming are good topics when we have class or university reunions and online discussions.
Sustainable gardening is good for the soul. In these times of Covid pandemia and health hysteria over the unknown and the unseen, we find some comfort and help in gardening. Our home garden becomes our escape from all Covidphobia, all the restrictions, the imposed quarantine, and homebound boredom.
Gardening to collect specific plant varieties (photo by friend and former Silliman U schoolmate Agnes Shari Tan Aliman)
Anyone who gardens notices some positive impact on our physical and emotional well-being. Gardening is beneficial for both physical and mental health. Our garden is a space where we can clear our minds and reduce stress as we connect with nature.
Gardening encourages positive mental stimulation, and when we care for our plants and vegetables, we actually gain some sense of purpose and fulfillment. And that sure feels good, and makes us gain some warm, fuzzy emotions within.
If anything else, gardening pulls us out from all the negative news and gossip related to Covid.
When we are getting tired and fed up with all this Covid stuff or of work, we turn to our plants, flowers, succulents, colorful coleus collection, or whatever are in our backyard or garden that speaks of life rather than of death, of being alive rather than be sick, physically sick or mentally sick or emotionally sick or plain sick of the pandemic. Back to normalcy is much desired.
Gardening that started as a hobby to collect varieties of cacti soon becomes a home business (photos by friends and schoolmates Diana Bernardes Chaudhury and Prof. Emervencia Ligutom)
As we retreat to the garden during the growing season, we find in its toil a pleasure and a sense of satisfaction. The blooms uplift our feelings, and the crops connect us to the earth and Mother Earth.
Our acts of sustainable gardening elevate our sense of purpose and reward us with a good feeling of contributing to the green revolution and the rejuvenation of the natural world in our little own world. Gardening is therapy.
Even something as simple as having a plant on our desks can make us feel energized and able to think more clearly. Especially during Covid quarantine or stay-at-home periods, people report that plants around us lessen our sense of isolation and depression.
Our plants give us little joy. Taking care of the plants pull us away from idle time. And too much idle time sometimes can simply lead to depression or unproductive activities. Little acts of gardening can come a long way in pulling us away from unproductive, even vicious habits and mindsets. By gardening, we instead become productive.
Planting dragon fruits for added income (photos by friend and Silliman U schoolmate Edito Busayong)
Humans have long known that being engaged in the natural world of growing plants is good for us. According to some studies, while gardening can be tough on our body when overdone, it’s a mental massage for our mind and emotions. Myself, I feel tired right after gardening too much, but my body eventually feels relaxed. I usually end up with a good sleep that night.
In a way, gardening is like getting a hard-core massage: painful while ongoing, but extremely soothing and relaxing afterward.
Overall, gardening gives people some exercise. When we are isolated as the pandemic forces us to stay more at home, we tend to lose exercise, and spend more time on the couch with the computer or cell phone, or gravitate to the dining table with delicious but not necessarily nutritious food. Such might lead to some personal issues, ranging from gaining weight to trying to occupy ourselves with something to do so we eat more; worse, we use junk food as our comfort food.
Raising lettuce, kalamansi, and anahaw , among a few others for the table and the market (photos by former Silliman U dormmate and schoolmate Reynaldo Masamong)
Yes, we definitely know junk food is comfort food. We crave comfort food when we are under stress, feeling unwell, or depressed. That further leads to weight gain. What a vicious cycle.
Or such can simply trigger chronic health problems worsened by less physical activities. Joint problems, heart problems, and diabetes, for example, might come sooner than later. Clinical studies have supported such a correlation between inactivity, junk food, physical isolation, and chronic health problems I’ve mentioned earlier.
Gardening is a great way to meet our body’s need for exercise. The guidelines for physical activity in children and adolescents are for 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous exercise every day. Adults should get at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise a day. By exercising, both children and adults benefit and reduce our chances of getting diabetes, anxiety, and depression.
Most forms of gardening might not be vigorous exercise, but over some period, our moments in the gardens could add up to a significant amount of time. And we might even notice it, time passes by more quickly when we are doing something that we enjoy.
Exercise releases endorphins in our brains. Endorphins are chemicals produced by the body to relieve stress and pain. They are known to help produce positive feelings and reduce the perception of pain. While gardening may sometimes seem like a chore, it has a significantly positive impact on our mental and emotional well-being.
Gardening pulls us out of the indoors, and in turn, makes us get more sunshine and oxygen.
Sunshine helps our body produce Vitamin D. And we know what oxygen does for our body.
For many of my friends, their gardens and mini farms have been a source of bountiful crops and even added income.
For one good friend, gardening and farming have become his mission field in the mountains of Davao. Hectares of Hope is such an apropos name for his missionary work among the poor farmers and indigenous people in southern Mindanao. He indeed has had bountiful harvest, crop-wise and soul-wise.
My Silliman friend Tancho Baes has elevated gardening and farming to a higher level for a much higher purpose. His Hectares of Hope is his mission field among the indigenous people in the mountains of Davao
Beautiful surroundings are important for everyone. Our gardens, for example, are spaces we pour time, effort, and resources because they are our investments. The returns in investment are significant in terms of spaces we cherish and enjoy, and the contribution to the curb appeal of our property on top of helping beautify our neighborhood.
My children, while in elementary grades, had a teacher who sponsored the garden club. The club raised vegetables and annual flowers that the pupils sold at the end of the year. They created hanging baskets that were best-sellers on Mother’s Day. They also sold seedlings from January to March of that school year.
This school’s garden club started with small financial help from parents, but it was practically self-sufficient. In fact, at the end of each school year, the club raised enough money to buy plant and gardening books and magazines for the school library. Too bad, when the teacher retired, the garden club also folded.
Reports from schools that have gardening incorporated into their classes whether as a class hobby, elective course, or club, point out that gardening encourages pupils and students to be caring, patient, and consistent while they care for their plants.
The reports further claim that school gardening makes many children develop healthy eating among those students who grow their own produce. One teacher from a nearby elementary school reports that many of her students enjoy eating the carrots, baby tomatoes, and leafy vegetables that they grew at school. Many of these students claim they normally would not eat those produce at home. Interesting, isn’t it?
Many other teachers who sponsor gardening clubs echo this elementary teacher’s claims.
The experience of the students can definitely translate to the experience of adults who garden and raise their own produce.
You yourselves might have a similar experience: your own carrots or beets tasted better and have that extra crunch as you bite into the fresh vegetables. Believe me, there is no better feeling than eating food which you have grown.
Also, pulling ingredients out of the earth really adds to the pride of what you are making for the table. If you grow your own vegetables and herbs, you garnish your salad plate as much as your life.
When you plant blooming plants and herbs that also show pretty flowers like sage, rosemary, and thyme, you beautify your space and your vase and salad bowls. Pots of herbs brighten up your balcony as well as your meals.
Furthermore, producing small amounts of produce from your garden increases appreciation of locally produced natural foods. Growing your own food in the garden is a very healthy way of living life to its fullest potential.
Food grown from our own backyard encourages us to eat it because it’s fresh. And if nothing else can be a valid reason, we know that a lot of hard work goes into producing what we have on our plates. So we gain better appreciation and gratitude for farmers and growers. Farmers are unsung and definitely undervalued heroes.
Before the Covid physical distancing regulations, people who garden together in community gardens, or neighbors working together, would say that gardening can also be a contributing factor to enhancing group exercise and social skills.
When people work in a community garden with others, they pay more attention to group tasks that can be accomplished together to achieve the best outcome.
They share gardening tips. They barter produce. They sympathize with one another’s gardening woes. And then they naturally chat about anything including family matters and career and socio-community issues as they get busy with their hands and gardening tools.
Gardening becomes a social event and boosts social interaction and community awareness.
To those who are in the market of buying or selling their home, gardening is your friend, too. According to realty magazines, home shoppers value a landscaped home by more than 10% higher than its base price. Realtors report that landscaping features like trees, flowers, plants, and well-kept lawn command a substantial market premium. They further report that investments in landscaping help to reduce the amount of time a property sits on the market.
Realty magazines and urban planners are unanimous in stating that urban gardens have health, environmental, and social benefits. They point out that gardening creates healthy food, involves people in active recreation across ages, engages people in their community, provides mental relaxation, and creates green spaces for everyone to enjoy.
Realtors, having a vested interest in helping homes sell fastest at the highest possible price, have documented these benefits. Urban planners want to help create a liveable community rather than just a workplace.
However, the realtors caution that a high-maintenance landscape with extensive flowering plants to worry about and many deciduous trees that later on pose much yard work may dissuade many older buyers who don’t want to putter about cleaning up the outside. These buyers, in fact, prefer to live in townhouses and apartments where hired landscapers take care of the landscaping needs of such housing units.
Let’s be financially practical. Well-designed landscaping can reduce our use of electricity or natural gas for heating in cold months or cooling in sweltering and humid months. Properly sited trees will shade our house and the same tree can buffer our house from freezing wind in November through to January. More so if it’s a deciduous tree that also allows sunlight to shine through and warm the house in winter and shades and cools the house in the hot summer. Trees can do double-duty the whole year round. We’re talking savings here.
In case you don’t know yet, our lawns and gardens are natural air conditioners, too. They absorb the heat and use sunlight in photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen in exchange. Healthy lawns and gardens also trap dust and smoke from cars. Obviously, they are good at filtering the air we breathe. Extra bonus: gardens beautify and ramp up the curb appeal.
According to an article I once read, a 50 x 50-foot lawn and garden like the one on my property can generate the amount of oxygen equivalent to what my family of four breathes in the whole year. And with our garden trees and plants, we help supply the oxygen needs of our two neighbors every year. Isn’t that being a good neighbor?
Of course, our neighbors have their own lawns, trees, and gardens to contribute to other households’ oxygen needs. We are being stewards of our community.
Many online horticultural sources claim that on average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Meaning, two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four for the whole year. Trees do give us life.
In our city, a growing number of buildings have installed rooftop gardens. These gardens not only provide beautiful retreats for employees but also absorb city pollutants while generating oxygen. Rain that used to simply drain down roofs into gutters as waste is now turned into a source for watering the plants. Rooftop gardens also act as heat coolants during summer and heat insulators during winter for the involved buildings. In turn, the heating and cooling costs are reduced as well. That’s good business sense.
The goodness of gardening and gardeners just piles up and up: good for us, for our neighbors, for Mother Earth. What’s preventing anyone from getting on the bandwagon of going green by gardening? Giddy up!
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