Gardening as a hobby can benefit everyone, because it’s both therapeutic and fun. It gives us that sense of positivity that we can only achieve by personally connecting with nature.
Check out Sustainable Gardening Australia’s spring lineup and book an online class or two, and you’ll know what we mean. In the meantime, take to heart these 5 lessons we can all learn from the wonder of gardening.
1. Having a daily routine always helps.
Want to grow a citrus tree in your backyard? Water it and tend to it every day so that one day, you can enjoy its sweet fruits.
Because plants need daily care, gardening compels us to stick to a schedule. To have that discipline and adopt a daily routine, even when it may not always suit our own, is always a good habit to have, in and out of our backyard.
2. Nothing grows in a vacuum.
While it can be comforting to stay inside our personal bubble (and in uncertain times like these, it may not even be a choice), if we only keep to ourselves, how else can we grow?
Once you decide to become a better version of yourself, most things will fall into place. For many people, it can come in the form of education, the pursuit of a personal passion. For others, it’s the need for interaction. And for some, it can be a bit of needed introspection.
Bottom line: Plants need a healthy dose of sunlight, plenty of water, and regular TLC. So do humans.
3. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
A thing of beauty takes time; there’s simply no way around it. Whether it’s a meticulously kept garden, a dream career, or an unquenchable desire for lifelong learning, to achieve our long term goals requires that we strive, improve, and focus on the small wins that make up the big goals. The payoff is so much more satisfying that way.
4. Time heals everything.
Plants have specialized cells that regenerate tissues and organs. Trim away old or torn leaves, and new ones will grow in their place. In time, they will come out the other side to restore themselves to their former condition, and their environment becomes habitable again to other forms of life.
5. Slow. Down.
Modern technology has made our lives move at a light-speed pace; we can access practically everything we need in just a few clicks. But gardening teaches us that not everything can be, and perhaps shouldn’t be, done in a second.
More often than not, the joy comes, not always from getting to the end goal, but from the feeling of anticipation. Whether it’s growing microgreens, flowers, or fruit, gardening teaches us that, as with life, it’s ultimately more about the journey than the destination.
